Qaeda tells Bush expect "tougher days" in Iraq-Web

DUBAI, May 25 (Reuters) An al Qaeda-led Iraqi group said today fresh funding for US forces will not help Washington win the war, vowing US troops will face tougher times just as US President George W Bush predicted.

''The tyrant of this era Bush came out and said ... the coming days in Iraq would be difficult. We say that God willing they will be tougher days on the enemies than past ones,'' the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq said in a statement.

Bush yesterday predicted heavy fighting for US troops in Iraq as a divided US Congress approved 100 billion dollars for the unpopular war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

''Do not rejoice that funds have been allocated for your soldiers because God willing this will not heal their wounds or change anything,'' it said.

Despite the deployment of tens of thousands of US and Iraqi troops in a major US led security crackdown, attacks have continued unabated.

''What you have said about sending a last wave (of troops) is rubbish. The battle field would be the witness,'' it said. ''We raise our children to love jihad,'' it said in the statement posted on a Web site used by Islamist militants.

It quoted remarks by al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri in a video statement in January in which he said: ''Why send 20,000 only? Why not send 50 or 100,000? Aren't you aware that the dogs of Iraq are pining for your troops' dead bodies?'' April was the worst month this year for the US military since the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, with 104 soldiers killed. About 90 have been killed in May so far.

The US military announced on Friday the deaths of six more soldiers in Iraq.

REUTERS JK BST2235