A leading financier of Islamic militants says U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia are now the main target of his "holy war" against the United States.

"We have focused our declaration of jihad on striking at the U.S. soldiers inside Saudi Arabia," Osama Bin Ladin said in an interview to be broadcast on CNN's Impact news show.Bin Ladin also warned the estimated 40,000 American civilians living in Saudi Arabia to leave the country, although he said they are not targets.

"We do not guarantee their safety," he said from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.

At least 5,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the region and the site of Mecca and Medina, two of Islam's holiest sites.

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"In our religion, it is not permissible for any non-Muslim to stay in Arabia," said Bin Ladin, explaining his aim to drive Americans from the country.

The State Department calls Bin Ladin "one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world today." Officials estimate his war chest, drawn from a family fortune, at between $50 million and $250 million.

Bin Ladin was a leader of as many as 20,000 Arabs who went to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight the Soviet occupation of the country.

He told CNN that some of the Arabs who fought under his command in Afghanistan later killed "large numbers" of U.S. troops during a 1992-1993 peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

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