Bin Laden audio file released

CAIRO - Al-Qaida released a posthumous audio recording by Osama bin Laden in which he praised revolutions sweeping through several Arab countries, and called for more Muslim "tyrants" to be toppled.

Islamists have conspicuously been absent in the uprisings in the Middle East that have largely been led by ordinary citizens angered by corruption and mismanaged economies.

Al-Qaida and other militant groups have waged bloody, but unsuccessful, campaigns to topple these same rulers and by praising the revolts, bin Laden, who was killed in a US raid on May 2 in Pakistan, appeared to be trying to make the Islamists relevant again.