Bin Laden is charged with bomb attacks

THE UNITED States yesterday brought criminal charges against Osama Bin Laden, the Islamic militant and Saudi Arabian exile, accusing him of plotting attacks against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August that claimed 224 lives and conspiring over 10 years to kill US citizens.

The Manhattan US Attorney, Mary Jo White, announced indictments against him and Mohammed Atef, identified as his top aide. Up to $5m (pounds 3.1m) is to be offered by the State Department for information leading to the arrest of either man.

The indictment says Mr bin Laden and the organisation he is believed to lead, al Qaeda, have been engaged for 10 years in a terrorist war against the US in protest at its military presence in Islamic countries.

In Washington the US Attorney-General, Janet Reno, said: "This ... sends a message that no terrorist can flout our laws and murder innocent civilians". If either of the men were convicted in the US, they would face automatic life sentences or even death, Ms White said.

Recent laws allow the State Department to offer lavish rewards for the arrest of the men. The US hopes temptation may get the better of somebody close to Mr bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.

The indictments were handed down by a federal grand jury in Manhattan originally convened to study international terrorist conspiracies after the 1996 bombing of a US military apartment complex in Saudi Arabia. An earlier indictment this autumn also named Mr bin Laden but it remained under court seal and was superseded by yesterday's indictments.

The US was quick to brand Mr bin Laden as prime suspect in the East African bombings. President Bill Clinton ordered missile attacks on purported Bin Laden training camps in Afghanistan and on a Sudanese pharmaceuticals plant with alleged links to him.