(Euronews: 0837 PST, February 24, 2011) The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has given an extraordinary interview by phone with Libyan state television, blaming the revolt against his rule on al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden, he said, was the real criminal. Gaddafi said he himself had only moral authority in Libya and likened himself to Britain's Queen Elizabeth. He offered his condolences to those who had died in the fighting uprising.

(Al Jazeera English: 0830 PST, February 24, 2011) An excerpt from Muammar Gaddafi's speech on Libyan state television Thursday.