Bin Laden calls Zarqawi a martyr, vows to fight on

DUBAI, June 30 (Reuters) Osama bin Laden praised the slain leader of Iraq's al Qaeda wing, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and vowed al Qaeda will continue to fight US forces and their allies ''everywhere'', according to an Internet audiotape today.

''The lion of jihad ... Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ... was killed in a US raid. We hope to God he accepts him as a martyr,'' said bin Laden.

Addressing US President George W. Bush, he said: ''Don't be too happy, for the banner (of al Qaeda in Iraq) hasn't dropped but has passed from one lion of Islam to another lion''.

''We will continue, God willing, to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Somalia and Sudan until we waste all your money and kill your men and you will return to your country in defeat as we defeated you before in Somalia,'' he said.

A US counterterrorism official said analysis of the recording, posted on a Web site regularly used by al Qaeda, confirmed ''that it is the voice of Osama bin Laden''.

MUJAHIDEEN Bin Laden called on US forces to release the body of Jordanian-born Zarqawi, adding : ''What scares you about Zarqawi after his death is that (his funeral) will be huge and will show the degree of sympathy Muslims have for the mujahideen.'' Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike in Iraq this month.

Bin Laden, in his fourth recording in 2006, defended Zarqawi's killing of Iraqis who fought with U.S.-led forces.

''Abu Musab had clear instructions to focus his fighting on the occupying forces first of which are Americans ... but whoever fought in the trenches of the crusaders against Muslims, then regardless of his faith or his tribe it is (acceptable) that he may be killed by anyone,'' he said.

Earlier this month, al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri vowed vengeance against the United States for the death of Zarqawi, according to a videotape.

Last month, bin Laden released an audiotape saying Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in a US court for the September 11 attacks on US cities, had nothing to do with the operations.

Bin Laden, considered the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, has eluded US forces in Afghanistan, as have Zawahri and former Taliban chief Mullah Omar.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has vowed to avenge the killing of Zarqawi and named his successor as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.

REUTERS SHB ND1940