A Yemeni Islamist told a court on Saturday that he and other militants behind the bombing of a French supertanker had close ties to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "(We) were very close to Sheikh Osama bin Laden," said Fawaz al-Rabeie, a leader of the group of 15 who are appealing their sentences for the bombing of the supertanker Limburg and other charges. "We had given our pledge to Sheikh Osama to kill Americans," said Rabeie in his final statement to the appeals court in the clearest admission yet of the group's ties to bin Laden. A Yemeni court in August jailed five of the men to 10 years for bombing the Limburg, and sentenced to death another who plotted with them to kill the US ambassador to Sanaa. Another nine were jailed for the assassination conspiracy and for plotting to attack Western embassies. Rabeie, who lived in Afghanistan like several other group members, did not give details of any contacts with bin Laden.