The officials would only confirm the existence of the indictment, refusing to specify when it was handed up or what alleged crimes it covered. An indictment would provide the grounds for bin Laden's capture and removal to the United States to stand trial, and could be used to help persuade foreign governments to deny him protection from arrest. Bin Laden's associates have said in recent days that he is in the mountains of Afghanistan following an attack on his training bases last Thursday by the United States. Officials typically refrain from commenting on the work of grand juries, particularly when indictments have been ordered sealed by a federal judge.
Prosecutors often seek to have indictments sealed when the defendant is a fugitive.
One former high-ranking U.S. counterterrorism official, requesting anonymity, said he had been told by a government source involved in the case that the indictment was handed up in June. Rahman is now serving a life sentence for his role in the conspiracy. But, judging from the range of accusations against him by U.S. officials, the indictment could pertain to other alleged crimes. Bin Laden is suspected in numerous attacks against Americans and has claimed a hand in killing U.S. servicemen in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope in 1993 and attempting to bomb U.S. troops in Yemen in late 1992. Kenneth Katzman, a senior Middle East analyst and terrorism expert at the Congressional Research Service, has said that the grand jury had been reviewing evidence earlier this year that tied bin Laden to a 1995 bombing at Saudi National Guard headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that killed five U.S. servicemen.