CHRONOLOGY-Recent Bin Laden messages
Source: Reuters
May 18 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has urged Muslims to break the Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and fight Arab governments that deal with the Jewish state, according to websites. More than 50 messages have been broadcast by bin Laden, his second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri and their allies since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. Following is a chronology of major statements attributed to bin Laden in the last two years. June 30, 2006 - Bin Laden in an audiotape praises the late al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a "lion of jihad". July 1 - Bin Laden warns Iraq's Shi'ite majority of retaliation for attacks on Sunni Arabs and says his group will fight the United States anywhere in the world. July 6 - A year on from bombings in London which killed 52 people, al Qaeda issues a video with comments from Zawahri, bin Laden and one bomber. Sept. 7, 2007 - Bin Laden appears in his first videotape for nearly three years, to mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. In a message to the American people, bin Laden says the United States is vulnerable despite its economic and military power. Nov. 29 - Bin Laden urges European countries in an audiotape to end their alliance with U.S. forces in the Afghan conflict. March 19, 2008 - Bin Laden threatens the European Union in an audio recording with grave punishment over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. March 20, 2008 - Bin Laden urges Muslims to keep up the struggle against U.S. forces in Iraq as a path to "liberating Palestine". May 16, 2008 - Bin Laden, in a new audio tape, urges the fight against Israel to continue and says the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the heart of the Muslim battle with the West. The speech was addressed to "Western peoples". May 18, 2008 - Bin Laden urges Muslims to break the Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and fight Arab governments that deal with the Jewish state in an audio tape posted on the Internet.
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