DUBAI (AFX) - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to boycott products of Western countries, including the US, which backed Denmark following the publishing of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed, and called on fighters to go to Sudan to wage war against 'crusader thieves', according to an audiotape aired today.
Doha-based Al-Jazeera television, which broadcast the tape, said it also called for the cartoonists behind the caricatures to be handed over to Al-Qaeda 'to put them on trial.'
The part of the audiotape in which Bin Laden called for the boycott was not heard.
He also criticised the Darfur conflict and the international isolation of Hamas-led Palestinian government as proof of a 'war by crusaders and Zionists against Islam'.
Bin Laden lambasted the Khartoum government for signing a peace deal with southern Sudan's Christian and animist rebels last year which ended decades of conflict.
'Not an inch of Muslim land can be abandoned. The south (of Sudan) will remain an inseparable part of the Muslim land,' he said.
It was the first purported recording by the Western world's most wanted man in three months but its authenticity could not be verified and it was not clear when it was made. newsdesk@afxnews.com afp/cml COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited