Previously Unreleased Bin Laden Video Posted on Web

Al Qaeda leader Usama Bin Laden appears in a video recording being analyzed for authenticity, U.S. officials confirmed to FOX News.

The videotaped statement, which surfaced on jihadist Web sites, is apparently short, and does not appear to be a dramatic aside from martyrdom videos from various Al Qaeda followers from Pakistan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkistan.

Bin Laden glorified those who die in the name of Jihad, or holy war, saying even the Prophet Muhammed "had been wishing to be a martyr."

Click here to see video report from ABC News.com.

"The happy (man) is the one that God has chosen him to be a martyr."

Dedicated to Muslims who have left their homes to fight Jihad, the video included a series of animated scenes showing green fields overlaid with Arabic names written in gold, representing Arab fighters who had died in Afghanistan.

Following one such sequence, the self-proclaimed leader of Al Qaeda appeared praising his fellow fighters.

"Your hero sons, courageous knights have left to the land of Afghanistan ... the land of Jihad and martyrdom, answering the call for the sake of God to kick out the occupier who has desecrated the pure soil of Afghanistan," said Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed.

In another clip, a man identified as Mujahid Haidarah al-Hawn was shown sitting in front of a tree with an AK-47 paying tribute to a Syrian fighter, Osama al-Hamawi, who died in an air raid in Afghanistan.

"I lived with him for four years," said al-Hawn, who wore a black scarf to cover his face. "He used to be my emir (commander) . . . he was a brother with extreme modesty."

A photo of al-Hamawi's face, apparently taken after his death, was broadcast, showing bruises around his eye and a red gash on his forehead.

A bearded man identified as Abu Yahia al-Libi, a Libyan Al Qaeda operative, appeared in the video wearing a black turban, saying the Muslim world was "offering the best of its men and sacrificing the good of its sons ... to protect its ideology."

Al-Libi escaped U.S. custody in 2005 and is believed to be behind a homicide bombing that killed 23 people outside the main U.S. base in Afghanistan during a February visit by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Though U.S. sources tell FOX News there has never been a fake tape from Bin Laden in the past, they contend that the analysis is not complete and there does not appear to be any time specific references so there is no way to know when the tape was made.

FOX News Baghdad reports that the clip may be from a previous unseen portion of a video released five or six years ago.

It has been over a year since the last audio tape from Bin Laden, shortly after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, then leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq was killed.

Bin Laden is seen wearing his familiar dress of standard camouflage battle jacket, watch cap and Pashtun pantaloons.

ABC News.com reports that the Al Qaeda leader appears older in the clip, where he is reportedly addressing an unseen group in a mountainous region.