Zawahiri vows to avenge killing of Zarqawi

Ayman al-Zawahiri

"Yes O Bush, none of us is killed without us avenging him, with the help of God," said Zawahiri, addressing US President George W. Bush to the backdrop of a picture of Zarqawi.

"Do you remember, O Bush, how the lion of Islam, the mujahed (holy warrior) Osama bin Laden, God keep him, swore that America will not be able to dream of security until it (security) becomes a reality in Palestine and all Muslim lands?" Zawahiri said.

He was referring to Al-Qaeda leader and mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man.

"Try in vain to dream of security," Zawahiri told Bush in his first comments on Zarqawi's death, despite having appeared on two videos since the killing of Al-Qaeda's Iraq chief.

"As to the Americans, I tell them: Yes, the courageous hero and martyrdom-seeker Abu Musab, God rest his soul, was killed," the Egyptian-born Zawahiri said.

"Tell me how many of you really died (in Iraq), how much your economy lost and how the morale of your soldiers is crumbling ...

"Bush is lying to you when he says that you will be victorious if you kill Osama bin Laden, (the leader of Afghanistan's Taliban movement) Mullah Omar and the members of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban," Zawahiri said.

"The lying addict (Bush) is hiding from you the disaster you face. You are not facing individuals or organizations; you are up against the nation of Islam, fired by the spirit of jihad (holy war)," he added.

Zawahiri blasted Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for being "keen to be the first to announce news (of Zarqawi's death) to the world," saying Maliki "trades with Islam" for power and describing Khalilzad as "the Afghan apostate."