CAIRO, Egypt — Osama bin Laden warned Europeans of a “severe” reaction to come, condemning the publication of drawings insulting to the Prophet Muhammad in a new audio message posted late Wednesday.
The message, which appeared on a militant Web site that has carried al-Qaida statements in the past and bore the logo of the extremist group’s media wing al-Sahab, showed a still image of bin Laden aiming with an assault rifle.
“The response will be what you see and not what you hear and let our mothers bereave us if we do not make victorious our messenger of God,” said a voice believed to be bin Laden’s, without specifying what action would be taken.
The five-minute message was bin Laden’s first this year.
It came as the Muslim world marks the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday today and amid the reigniting of a 2-year-old controversy over some Danish cartoons deemed by Muslims to be insulting. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
On Feb. 13, Danish newspapers republished a cartoon showing Muhammad, wearing a bomb-shaped turban, to show their commitment to freedom of speech after police said they had uncovered a plot to kill the artist.
“You went overboard in your unbelief and freed yourselves of the etiquettes of dispute and fighting and went to the extent of publishing these insulting drawings,” bin Laden said, according to a transcript released by the SITE Institute, another U.S. group that monitors terror messages. “This is the greater and more serious tragedy, and reckoning for it will be more severe.”
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