Hackers find bin Laden's accounts

A group of UK hackers claims to have captured confidential banking information on the wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden, and Al Qaeda, the organisation he heads up.

According to 27-year-old millionaire Kim Schmitz, otherwise known as convicted hacker "Kimble", the group broke into systems at the AlShamal Islamic Bank to obtain the data.

The attack apparently happened after a $10m reward offered up by Schmitz, was answered by an unidentified member of the Islamic banking community who pinpointed the AlShamal bank as the host for bin Laden's accounts.

Schmitz posted the reward offer along with a letter to the governments of the world, urging them to band together to "fight terror!"

The ex-hacker is acting only as a spokesman for the group, and claims to know nothing of the details of the break-in - a veiled acknowledgement that the group's actions are still illegal.

He claims to have passed all the data captured onto the FBI to aid its investigation. However, this cannot be confirmed by either party.

The hackers involved in the attack are members of a group of uber-hackers set up by Schmitz himself. Young Intelligent Hackers Against Terror (Yihat) is a small cyber-army working on the wrong side of the law to fulfil Schmitz's oath to fight terrorism.

In response to claims that Schmitz's actions are to boost PR for his data security and investment firms, he said: "To those who think this is some sort of PR activity, please wake up. This has nothing to do with PR. My own life is in danger. I have received emails and calls from people wanting to kill me. What kind of PR is that?"

Schmitz has done his fair share of hacking, however, and was convicted in 1998. He served time throughout the 90s for computer intrusions on NASA, the Pentagon, and Citibank systems.

Now he is "searching for a government that allows my network of skilled computer hackers and I to fight terrorism through the online world."

He claims that taking the fight online is the key to combating terrorism.