Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has threatened the European Union with grave punishment over the republication of cartoons of Islam's Prophet Mohammed.
Many Muslims saw the cartoons as offensive.
Osama bin Laden, in an audio recording posted on the internet, said that the drawings that were published by Danish and other newspapers were part of a crusade.
He said Pope Benedict was involved in the crusade.
The last online message from Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border, came on 29 December in a 56-minute recording released on the internet.
In that message, the al-Qaeda leader warned Sunni Muslims in Iraq not to take up arms against al-Qaeda and promised the liberation of Palestine.
