Cairo/Berlin - A new message purported to be from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urged European nations Friday to end their alliance with the US and withdraw their forces from Afghanistan. "We are neither asking for something trivial or invalid? justice demands that you lift your oppression and withdraw your troops and reason demands that you don't hurt your neighbours," said the audio message posted on Islamic websites.
The five-minute "Message from Sheikh Osama bin Laden to the People of Europe" was released as a video showing a still photo of bin Laden, and with English or German subtitles.
The message was released two days before the German elections, which many fear could experience an attack similar to that which rocked Madrid five years ago before federal elections there.
The German Interior Ministry said it was aware of the new message, which it was taking "very seriously" and was currently being assessed.
A transcript provided by the US-based monitoring group Intel Center said the message stated: "Were you to see what your American ally and his helpers did in northern Afghanistan, you would understand the causes of the bloody events in Madrid and London."
Bin Laden's tape was released on the same day as a video appeared on the internet featuring Bekkay Harrach, a German linked to al- Qaeda, calling for German Muslims to take part in jihad against the West.
In the 39-minute-long video, Harrach tells his "dear sisters and brothers in Islam" that "jihad is a completely different world" and that "anybody can take part in jihad."
