Bin Laden issues threat of violence to French people

AL-QAIDA leader Osama bin Laden warned France yesterday that its planned ban on the veil in public places and its involvement in the war in Afghanistan justified violence against its nationals.

In an audio recording aired by Al-Jazeera television, Bin Laden said last month’s kidnapping of seven foreigners, five of them French, in the Sahara desert in northern Niger was a warning.

Bin Laden, in the message directed to the French people, said he wanted to set out “the reasons for threatening your security and taking your people as prisoners”.