Bin Laden and partner appear in unity video

Osama bin Laden is shown in newly released video.

DOHA, Qatar (CNN) -- Al-Jazeera TV showed footage Thursday of two of the most wanted men in the world: Suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and the leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad standing side by side at a unification ceremony of their terror groups.

The video depicts bin Laden, escorted by masked guards, in a hillside tent compound at an undisclosed location with Ayman al-Zawahiri, his No. 2 man and the head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a radical Islamic militant group blamed for the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

Al Qaeda's military commander, Mohammed Atef, also is seen in the video.

Al-Jazeera, based in Qatar, is considered the most widely watched cable network in the Arab world. It said the celebration marked the unification of al Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad. It also celebrated the graduation of new al Qaeda fighters.

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During the celebration, the masked guards fired their weapons into the air and sang militant songs in Arabic. Egyptian Islamic Jihad has worked with bin Laden's al Qaeda network since the early 1990s, and according to U.S. authorities it has been a major player in all of al Qaeda's terrorist operations.

Al-Zawahiri has been indicted in the United States in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Al-Jazeera received the tape Thursday in its office in Kabul, Afghanistan.

It claimed the video was taken in recent weeks. It is unclear whether the tape was shot before or after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

In the past, bin Laden has appeared with his top lieutenants before any major terrorist action. Before the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, for example, a photo of bin Laden in Africa was released.

Leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad Ayman al-Zawahiri, left, walks with bin Laden.

In Washington, the Bush administration has put pressure on the government of Qatar to restrain al-Jazeera for what the United States believes is unbalanced in its reporting and encourages anti-American sentiment in the Middle East.

Secretary of State Colin Powell met Wednesday with the emir of Qatar whose government currently holds the presidency of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. President Bush met with the emir Thursday.

The Bush administration wants Qatar to use its influence with the cable network. U.S. officials said the station continues to run an old television interview with bin Laden and it has invited anti-American guests who have argued U.S. policy was to blame for the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"We had a frank exchange," one U.S. official said. "There should have been no mistake of where we are coming from."