This from AP, and Alyssa Lappen:
A video purported to be from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network shows Saudi militants planning, training for and carrying out what it claimed was the Nov. 8 bombing of a housing compound for foreigners in the Saudi capital that killed 17 people.
The 90-minute video, viewed on an Islamic Web site by The Associated Press in Dubai, shows a vehicle driving up to what it says is the Muhaya compound in Riyadh before loud explosions and gunfire erupt. That portion is blurry and badly lit, and the building is not visible.
It was not possible to verify the video’s authenticity. However, it uses language similar to past statements attributed to al-Qaida, and the training scenes are like those seen in videos of al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan. The Web site that showed the video has released other seemingly credible al-Qaida statements.
In October, an al-Qaida-style recording surfaced on the Internet that included what was described as audio of militants launching May 12 attacks on Western housing compounds in Riyadh that killed 26 people and the nine attackers. Bits of video also were accessible with it, but the only clip allegedly of the assault itself showed a black screen with text identifying gunshot noises as a recording of the start of the attack.
The new video contains excerpts from several of bin Laden’s previously broadcast comments, as well as the words of other al-Qaida members and Khattab, a Saudi-born Chechen military leader who was killed by Russian forces in 2002.
Militants are seen training with rocket-propelled grenades and surface-to-air missiles, and in hand-to-hand combat.
The video also showed training courses on bomb-making and displayed detonators, timers and wires. It calls the training camp al-Battar and says it is on the Arabian peninsula.