The US has rejected a truce offer from Osama bin Laden, with the White House declaring: "We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business."

The al-Qaida chief made the proposal in an audiotape broadcast by the Aljazeera satellite television network, and authenticated by the CIA, in which bin Laden warned of pending attacks in the "heartland" of the United States.

But he also offered a "long-term truce" if Washington withdrew its military presence from Iraq and Afghanistan - the latter his former safe haven until US forces ousted his Taliban allies after the September 11 attacks.

Bin Laden, whom some US intelligence officials say is holed up in a remote mountainous region on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, had not been heard from since another recorded message in December 2004.

In April 2004, bin Laden in a videotaped message also offered a truce to Europeans if they stopped attacking Muslims.

US officials were unsure when the latest message had been recorded.

PHOTO CAPTION

Osama bin Laden is seen in this April 1998 file photo in Afghanistan. (AP)