IRAQ: Iraq's al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has told Osama bin Laden in an audio tape attributed to him that he suffered only "minor" wounds, denying reports he was seriously injured.
"I think news has reached your ears through the media that I was seriously wounded . . . I would like to assure you and assure Muslims that these are baseless rumours and that my wounds are minor," the voice on the tape said.
"I am now with the help of God enjoying good health among my brothers and my people in Iraq," it added. The authenticity of the internet tape could not be immediately verified.
There has been speculation about al-Zarqawi's health since a statement was posted on the internet last week saying he had been injured.
One newspaper at the weekend suggested he had fled Iraq after sustaining the injuries from a US missile attack.
Earlier yesterday al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for two suicide bombers strapped with explosives blew themselves up in a crowd of protesting former policemen in Hilla south of Baghdad yesterday, killing 27 in one of the deadliest attacks in a month of escalating violence.
Stoking sectarian tensions further, US troops burst into the home of a leading Sunni Arab politician before dawn, and arrested him and three of his sons. After angry protests from Sunnis, the military released Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, saying he was arrested by mistake.
Police said the bombers mingled with former police commandos who were demonstrating outside a government office because their unit had been disbanded. The first bomber detonated his explosives in the middle of the crowd. As survivors scattered, the other bomber ran with them and blew himself up nearby. More than 100 people were wounded, police said.
Northeast of Baghdad, near the border with Iran, an Iraqi airforce aircraft crashed with four US military personnel and an Iraqi on board, the US military said. It was not clear how the aircraft went down, or if there were any survivors. "Coalition forces have secured the site and are investigating," said a US army spokeswoman in Baghdad.