TIMELINE: Prophet Mohammad cartoons

(Reuters) - The Vatican rejected on Thursday new accusations by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that the publication of cartoons mocking Islam's Prophet Mohammad was part of a "new crusade" involving Pope Benedict.

The cartoons were first published by the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, but the row erupted after other papers reprinted them in 2006. At least 50 people have been killed in related protests.

Here is a chronology of the row over the cartoons:

September 2005 - Danish daily Jyllands-Posten publishes the cartoons.

January 10, 2006 - The Christian newspaper Magazinet in Oslo reprints the cartoons.

January 26 - Muslim anger over the cartoons sparks a boycott of Danish dairy products in Saudi Arabia.

January 29 - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen says his government cannot be held responsible for what is published in independent media.

January 30 - Denmark's Jyllands-Posten issues an apology.

February 1 - Newspapers in France and Germany reprint the cartoons, saying press freedom is more important than protests.

-- The owner of Paris newspaper France Soir sacks his managing editor after the paper prints the cartoons.

February 4/5 - Thousands of demonstrators set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus and Beirut. Lebanese Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa resigns.

February 6 - Iran cuts all trade ties with Denmark.

February 7 - Iran's best-selling newspaper, Hamshahri, launches a competition for the best cartoon about the Holocaust in retaliation for the cartoons of the Prophet.

February 10 - Protests continue worldwide; protesters burn a Danish and an American flag at the Danish embassy in Caracas.

February 17 - Maulana Yousef Qureshi, a Muslim cleric in Pakistan, and his followers offer rewards amounting to over $1 million to anyone who kills the Danish cartoonists.

April 24 - Osama bin Laden calls, in a tape message, for those who ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad to be killed.