A 12-minute audio tape purportedly of Osama bin Laden, made prior to his killing, praises protests and uprisings in African and Middle East countries.
The tape on the so-called Arab Spring was released by al-Qaida's media outlet As-Sahab and posted Wednesday on radical Islamic Web site. It was translated by CNN, which said it could not confirm its authenticity.
The tape, opening with a prayer, claimed the speaker was bin Laden and referred to him as "the martyr of Islam." Bin Laden was killed May 2 by U.S. forces during a raid on his compound in Pakistan's garrison town of Abbottabad, near the capital Islamabad.
CNN reported the Islamic date on the tape indicated it was recorded between April 4 and May 3. The report quoted a U.S. official as telling CNN last week a message on similar topics was seized at bin Laden's Pakistan compound, adding the official had not yet compared the recordings.
"... we are monitoring with you this great historic event and we join you with your joy and delight, so congratulations on your victories and may God have mercy on your martyrs," the speaker on the tape said.
Commenting on North Africa's Maghreb, which includes Tunisia, Libya and Algeria, the speaker is heard saying: "The (Muslim) nation was always getting ready for the victory that is rising from the eastern horizon but the surprise was that the sun of the revolution rose from the Maghreb, the west.
"The light of the revolution sparked in Tunisia and the nation felt the relief, the faces of the people got brightened and the throats of the rulers got coarser and the Jews got terrified because the coming of the promised day."
The speaker encouraged Muslims to fight corrupt rulers and "Western hegemony."
An ABC News report said the audiotape includes still images emblazoned with an old picture of bin Laden and appeared to be have been recorded after Feb. 17.