Bin Laden in video threat to EU over cartoons

Osama bin Laden has vowed revenge against the "wise men" of the European Union for "the most dangerous" publication of drawings depicting the Prophet Mohamed, it was reported last night. The recorded threat was carried by an extremist website which has carried the al-Qa'ida leader's statements in the past.

It was broadcast in what was said to be Bin Laden's voice, with a picture of him aiming a Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle, and the logo of the group's media wing, al-Sahab.

Last month, the French newspaper France Soir re-published images first seen in the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.

Under the headline "Yes, we have the right to caricature God", it ran a front-page image of the Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian gods floating on a cloud with the caption: "Don't complain, Muhammad, we've all been caricatured here."