By DPA
London : The British government, responding to a reported Al Qaeda threat over the knighthood awarded to author Salman Rushdie, has said that it would not "allow terrorists to undermine the British way of life".
"The British people will remain united, resolute and strong," a spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
Earlier Tuesday, Ayman al-Zawahiri, regarded as deputy of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, warned that his group was preparing a "very precise response" to Britain honouring the Indian-born novelist with a knighthood.
"I say to Blair's successor (Brown) that the policy of your predecessor drew catastrophes in Afghanistan and Iraq and even in the centre of London," al-Zawahiri said in an audio message posted on a website used by Islamic militants.
"If you did not learn the lesson then we are ready to repeat it, god willing, until we are sure you have fully understood," he added.
Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" provoked widespread protests in the Muslim world in 1989 when Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering his execution.
A British Foreign Office spokesperson earlier responded to al-Zawahiri's latest message by saying the knighthood was a reflection of Rushdie's contribution to literature.
"The government has already made clear that Rushdie's honour was not intended as an insult to Islam or the Prophet Muhammad," the spokesperson said.
The award was announced last month but Rushdie, 60, has yet to receive the honour formally from Queen Elizabeth II.