Two items from international news feeds-

AMMAN (AFX) - An anonymous caller claimed responsibility for the spate of attacks in the US on behalf of Japan's Red Army militant group to "avenge the dead of Hiroshima". "An anonymous caller speaking Arabic like a foreigner claimed responsibility for the attacks in a call to our newsapaper," the editor of the weekly Al-Wahdeh newspaper, Fakhri Kawar, told Agence France-Presse. "He said the attacks were carried out to avenge the dead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he said. Japan marked the 56th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima by the United States during World War II on August 6. More than 200,000 people were killed in that attack, while Nagasaki was likewise bombed on August 9, 1945. Kawar, a former deputy, said the caller gave no more details and hung up quickly. "We take this claim seriously," he said. About 20 Japanese companies have offices in New York's World Trade Center twin towers which were hit by two planes in the presumed attacks, Japan Broadcasting Corp reported.

and....

(AFX-Focus) 2001-09-11 17:28 GMT: Afghan Taliban denies bin Laden role in US attacks ISLAMABAD (AFX) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia denied that Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden had played any role in a series of apparent terrorist attacks in the US. The Taliban militia's ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, condemned the attacks and said he hoped the perpetrators would be quickly brought to justice.

"Osama is only a person he does not have the facilities to carry out such activities," he told a news conference.

"We want to tell the American people that Afghanistan feels their pain. We hope that the terrorists are caught and brought to justice," he said.

- Ian B