Allawi gets online death threat

2004-06-23 10:05

Cairo - An audio recording purportedly made by al-Qaeda-linked militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and found online on Wednesday threatened to assassinate the head of Iraq's interim government that takes over at the end of the month.

"As for you (Iyad) Allawi .... the democratically elected prime minister, ... you didn't know that you have survived already traps we made for you but we promise you that we will continue with you the game until the end," the online recording said. "We will not get bored until we make you drink from the same glass which Izzadine Saleem tasted."

Saleem, a former Governing Council president also known as Abdel-Zahraa Othman, was killed on May 18 in a car bombing in Baghdad.

"You (Allawi) are the symbol of evil and the infidel nation; you are the source of all traitors."

It was not possible to immediately authenticate the recording, but the voice sounded like al-Zarqawi. There was no date on the 16-minute recording, which surfaced on an Islamic website known as a clearing house for statements and videos from al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.

The Jordanian terror suspect is believed to have ties to al-Qaeda and groups associated with him have claimed responsibility for a number of bombings and attacks in Iraq, most recently Tuesday's beheading of South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il.

The beheading was claimed by al-Zarqawi's Monotheism and Jihad movement.

After news of the beheading and the discovery of Kim's body, US forces launched an airstrike in Fallujah on what it said was a safehouse used by followers of al-Zarqawi.

On the recording, the voice purported to be al-Zarqawi said he was not in Fallujah.

"I am like a tourist in Iraq. I move along the country staying with my family and brothers," he said.

Fallujah residents said the US strike late on Tuesday hit a car park. Three people were killed and nine wounded, said Dr Loai Ali Zeidan at Fallujah Hospital.

- AP