Militant vows to kill Iraqi interim PM

A tape recording purportedly made by al-Qaida-linked militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi threatened to assassinate Iraq’s interim prime minister and said the fight against “infidels” would continue “until Islamic rule is back on earth”.

“As for you (Iyad) Allawi … the democratically-elected prime minister, … you don’t know that you have already survived traps we made for you.

“We promise you that we will continue the game with you until the end,” the online recording said.

“We will not get bored until we make you drink from the same glass that 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.

Allawi heads an interim government that is to take over at the end of June.

There was no way to authenticate the recording, but the voice sounded like al-Zarqawi.

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

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-Qaida and other extremist groups.

The speaker compared Allawi to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whom he said was installed by the United States.