Bin Laden praises martyrdom in video

DUBAI (AFP) - Al-Qaeda's fugitive chief Osama bin Laden, who has not been heard from for more than a year, appeared in an undated videotape posted on the Internet on Sunday, in which he praises martyrdom.

"The happy (person) is the one chosen by Allah to be a martyr," Bin Laden said in a short clip which was included in a videotape titled "Winds of Martyrdom", and carried by the Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group.

SITE said the footage was old, but did not give an estimated date.

The images showed showed the Western world's most wanted man, wearing an Afghan-style hat, military fatigues and a greying beard, standing outdoors against a background of a hill and shrubs.

Bin Laden was last heard of in an audiotape posted on the Internet in July 2006, in which he accused Iraqi Shiites of waging "genocide" against the minority Sunnis.

He had also warned in an audio message posted a day earlier that jihad, or holy war, would go on in Iraq despite the killing of the then Al-Qaeda frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"The last Prophet (of Islam, Mohammed)...wished to have died as a martyr," said Bin Laden in Sunday's video. It bore the symbol of the As-Sahab group, which usually produces audiovisual statements from Al-Qaeda's leadership.

The videotape featured also messages from other Al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan, as well as testimonies by purported suicide bombers ahead of launching attacks in the war-torn country.