Bin Laden is the prime suspect behind the Khobar Towers bombing that killed 19 U.S. servicemen

In This Story:

• A vow to wage holy war
• "We predict a black day for America"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- An exiled dissident wanted by Saudi Arabian and U.S. authorities for two bombings appeared on U.S. network television on Wednesday and challenged the U.S. military to try to capture him.

Osama bin Laden spoke to ABC News from what it said was a heavily-armed camp somewhere inside Afghanistan, which has given refuge to the stateless Saudi Arabian and a group of his followers.

Seated in a poorly-lit tent, the slight and bearded bin Laden said he was ready if U.S. forces attempted to track down and arrest him.

"Whether they try or not, we have seen in the last decade the decline of the American government and the weakness of the American soldier," he said.

Bin Laden, who has vowed to wage a jihad or holy war against U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia because of U.S. support for Israel, broadened his threat to include all Americans, military and civilian, in the Middle East.

"We do not differentiate between those dressed in military uniforms and civilians. They are all targets in this fatwa (a religious decree) ... we must use such punishment to keep your evil away from Muslims, Muslim women and children," he said.

Bin Laden, who has been identified by the U.S. State Department as a major world sponsor of Islamic extremism, is believed to have been a major financier of the Mujahideen who drove then-Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989.

"Our battle with the Americans is larger than our battle with the Russians ... we predict a black day for America," he said.

U.S. officials last year branded bin Laden the prime suspect in a 1995 car bombing in Riyadh that killed five Americans and in a 1996 attack on a military housing complex in the eastern town of Khobar that killed 19 U.S. servicemen.

He has denied involvement in the blasts.

"Osama bin Laden may be the most dangerous non-state terrorist in the world," White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger told ABC News.

Bin Laden, whose family's construction business is believed to be worth as much as five billion dollars, was stripped of his Saudi citizenship because of alleged activities against the Saudi royal family.