Suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden has succeeded beyond his dreams and created a world of fear in which there is growing confrontation between Muslims and the West, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said today.

"He has made the whole world frightened, people are frightened to do anything," Mahathir said of the al-Qaeda leader who has claimed responsibility for the Sept 11 terror attacks on the United States.

"Osama bin Laden ... I think he may have succeeded beyond his dreams.

"And why has he succeeded? Because we are angry, we don't know how to manage these things, and we fall into his trap," he said.

Mahathir acknowledged that the US congressional election results were "a vote of confidence in the policies" of President George W Bush, including his threat to attack Iraq.

Rise of Islamic parties

But he pointed out that Islamic parties were also becoming increasingly popular, an apparent reference to recent elections in Turkey and other countries in the Muslim world.

"The Islamic parties are also becoming popular, so there is also going to be increasing confrontation," Mahathir told a news conference.

"Both sides are going to play up their anger and hatred to the maximum. So we're going to see a world which is not going to be very calm."

The veteran southeast Asian leader, whose government has in detention more than 70 suspected Islamic militants, some with alleged links to al-Qaeda, has regularly criticised the conduct of the US-led war on terrorism.

He says it does not address the root causes of terrorism, such as the plight of the Palestinians in the Middle East, and in fact inflames anti-American sentiment. - AFP