DUBAI (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group vowed Sunday to hit U.S. and British interests in retaliation for U.S.-led strikes against Afghanistan, warning Americans and Britons to avoid planes and skyscrapers.
In a statement broadcast on Qatar's al-Jazeera television, Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Bu Ghaith (Photo) also told U.S. and British ''infidels'' to leave the Gulf, or else ``fire will flare underneath their feet.''
In Washington, a White House spokeswoman said the Bush administration dismissed the threats as ``propaganda.'' Earlier, Bush said in a radio address that the U.S. government was taking ``strong precautions'' to protect Americans at home and abroad from more terror attacks.
Bu Ghaith's comments were the second set of warnings al Qaeda made to the United States in the past week.
``We tell (President George) Bush and others in the U.S. administration that the storms will not stop, particularly the storm of hijacked planes, until the strikes against Afghanistan end and until Palestinian land is liberated,'' Bu Ghaith said.
``We also advise Americans and Britons, especially Muslims, children and all those who oppose U.S. policy, not to take planes or live in high buildings,'' he said.
Ghaith, told Bush, his father George Bush, and the prime ministers of Britain and Israel that they would pay dearly for killing Muslims. He did not elaborate.
Earlier, Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said in a statement that the world's Muslims had to decide between supporting Afghanistan and the United States. He also reiterated that bin Laden would never be handed over.