Bin Laden named in anti-US plots

US forces are already massed in the Gulf

Nato says it has seen firm evidence that Osama Bin Laden was involved in last month's devastating suicide attacks in the United States.

A French-Algerian man held in France has also implicated the Saudi-born militant in a plot to attack the US embassy in Paris, judicial sources say.

It is clear that all roads lead to Al-Qaeda and pinpoint Osama Bin Laden as having been involved in it [US terror attacks

Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson

Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson said the United States had presented "clear and compelling evidence" that Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organisation were involved in the 11 September suicide attacks.

The UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has warned Bin Laden's Taleban protectors in Afghanistan that they have run out of time and must now pay the price for harbouring him.

Nato concluded that the attacks - in which more than 6,000 people died - were directed from abroad. Lord Robertson formally invoked Nato's Article Five, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all.

But the BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says that, while legally Nato members are now obliged to give any assistance the United States requests, in practice there will be no Nato military response.

In other developments:

• President Bush announces the reopening of the Reagan National Airport in Washington - the last airport to remain closed since the attacks
• Swissair suspends all its flights, as creditors move in and the Belgian government plans legal action over its handling of Sabena
• Russian relief supplies are expected to arrive in Afghanistan, while a shipment of hundreds of tents is set to leave from Britain
• World Bank warns that 10 million more people will be reduced to poverty around the world as a result of the attacks
• The UK is to freeze almost $90m of Taleban assets
• FBI sources say there is evidence of bank transfers between a Bin Laden financial operative and three of the hijackers shortly before the attacks
• Pakistan's President Musharraf tells the BBC conflict with the Taleban is inevitable after their failure to hand over Bin Laden
• Afghanistan's former king Zahir Shah reaches agreement with the opposition aimed at ousting the Taleban

The United States is assembling massive forces in and around Afghanistan, where Bin Laden is sheltering, and there are increasing signs that it may be poised to strike soon.

Bin Laden plot

In France, investigators have heard a confession by a French-Algerian militant, Djamel Beghal, who said he had received orders at Bin Laden's headquarters to attack the US embassy in Paris.

Click here for map of possible targets

A French radio report said the 35-year-old man, who was extradited on Sunday from the United Arab Emirates, spoke in detail about being recruited by Bin Laden.

The Taleban have said that Bin Laden remains in Afghanistan at an unknown location. They also said they had handed him an edict from a council of religious leaders that he leave the country.

Blair warning

The UK is expected to be involved in any US operation, and Prime Minister Blair has warned the Taleban that military strikes against them are close.

HMS Illustrious - Britain's most powerful aircraft carrier - heads to Oman

Mr Blair made it clear in a speech to Labour Party supporters that military action against the Taleban was unavoidable.

Condemning the Taleban as a regime that oppressed the people of Afghanistan and flooded the streets of the West with drugs, he said: "Be in no doubt at all, Bin Laden and his people organised this atrocity. The Taliban aid and abet him. He will not desist from further acts of terror. They will not stop helping him."

He added: "Whatever the dangers of the action we take, the dangers of inaction are far, far greater."

The United States has massed about 29,000 military personnel in two aircraft carriers - the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Enterprise - in the Gulf.

Two more carriers are also heading for the region - the USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Kitty Hawk.

More than 100 additional Air Force planes have also been sent to the region. These are based in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and other Gulf nations.

Britain has also sent 24 Royal Navy warships, as well as 23,000 troops, to Oman, but military officials insist they are simply on a long-planned exercise.

Some reports say US and UK special forces are already operating within Afghanistan.

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