Troops closing in on militants, says 'letter to bin Laden'

The leader of militants who say they beheaded an American in Iraq has allegedly written to Osama bin Laden saying his fighters are being squeezed by US-led coalition troops.

It was not possible to authenticate the statement posted on Islamic websites allegedly from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian whose extremist group claimed responsibility for the videotaped beheading of American Nicholas Berg.