Al-Zarqawi tape calls Iraq MPs 'apostates'

An internet audiotape posted today, purportedly by the leader of al Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, denounced Iraq’s Shiites as collaborators with the Americans and called the country’s rulers “apostates".

The tape was the first said to be from the Jordanian-born militant since a new, Shiite-dominated government was put in place in early May. In the past weeks, al Qaida in Iraq and other militant groups have wreaked a stepped-up campaign of car bombings, suicide attacks, shootings and kidnappings.