European leaders roundly dismissed on Thursday an apparent "truce" offer by Osama bin Laden, saying the idea of negotiating with the Western world's most wanted man was absurd.
An audio tape attributed to the al Qaeda leader offered peace to European countries that refrain from aggression towards Muslims and pull their troops out of the Muslim world.
Within minutes of each other, Britain, Spain, Italy and the European Union rejected the offer as a ploy by terrorists, even though the authenticity of the voice on the tape could not be verified.
"The idea of an armistice with a group that defines itself by violence is an absurdity," a British Foreign office spokesman said.
The audio tape emerged amid a spate of kidnappings of foreign nationals in Iraq by insurgents apparently seeking to destabilise the US-led occupation and a bloody rebellion against the coalition forces.
The voice on the cassette broadcast by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, said the offer - to be left open for three months - came after opinion polls showed European people wanted peace.
It offered a "reconciliation initiative" to European countries if they pledged not to be aggressive towards Muslims, "like the American plot against the big Islamic world".
"It is in the interest of both parties to deprive them of spilling people's blood for their own interests and in their following of the White House."
However, the speaker also vowed to avenge Israel's March assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas.
The Foreign Office in Britain, the top US ally in Iraq and the US war on terrorism after the September 11 attacks of 2001, described the purported offer as a cynical ploy to split Europe and the United States.
"Neither we nor our European partners are going to be intimidated into withdrawing from action against terrorism or to break the transatlantic alliance that has been the cornerstone of our freedom and defence policy for decades."
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, whose country is in shock over the execution of one of four Italian hostages in Iraq, said discussing a peace deal with bin Laden was "unthinkable".
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