Osama bin Laden praises Abu Musab Zarqawi

Washington, June 30 : Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has released a new audio tape in which he praises the group's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a US air strike on June 7, and declares ''Our flag has not fallen,'' CNN reported.

CNN yesterday said that in the 19-minute 32-second tape, posted on an Islamic Web site which it did not identify, bin Laden told President George W. Bush that Zarqawi's body should be returned to his native Jordan. There was no immediate official confirmation that the voice on the tape was bin Laden.

Reuters