AN AUDIO tape said to be from Osama Bin Laden accuses the US of plotting to carve up Muslim countries in the Middle East to benefit Israel.

An audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden calls US President George W Bush “stupid” and claims American war plans against Iraq are part of a plot to attack Muslim nations in the Middle East and North Africa.

A British-based Islamic news agency said today it had a new audio recording of Osama bin Laden in which he predicts he will die as “a martyr” this year in an attack against his enemies.