'Bin Laden message' to Europeans

Several tapes purportedly from Bin Laden have been released recently

Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has urged European countries to end their military involvement in Afghanistan, in an audio message attributed to him.

The message, aired on al-Jazeera television, calls on the people of Europe to urge their leaders to end their "interference" in Afghanistan.

It is the fourth audio tape attributed to Bin Laden in the last two months.

Insurgent groups in Iraq were urged to unify their ranks, in an audio message purportedly from Bin Laden last month.

In the latest audiotape, the voice says American power is ebbing and Europeans in Afghanistan should leave the country.

"It would be better for you if you (restrained) your politicians who flock to the White House and worked actively to end the wrong done to the oppressed," the voice on the latest tape says.

The speaker says he is responsible for the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington and says the Taleban, then in power in Afghanistan, knew nothing of the plans to attack.