Fugitive militant Zarqawi seeking new Iraq alliances
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-22 08:52

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian Islamist militant and most wanted man in Iraq, is alive, well and seeking new alliances among Sunni opponents of U.S.-led forces in Iraq, Britain's Sunday Times reported.

Citing the leader of a Sunni resistance group who said he recently spent time with Zarqawi, the newspaper said the insurgent leader wore a suicide belt at all times -- even when asleep.

"He told me: 'I would rather blow myself up and die as a martyr -- and kill a few Americans along the way -- than be humiliated by them," Sheikh Abu Omar al-Ansari, leader of the Jeish al Taiifa al Mansoura (Army of the Victorious Sect) group, was quoted as saying.

Zarqawi, believed to have been behind several videotaped beheadings of foreign hostages in Iraq, has a $25 million bounty on his head -- the same as that for the killing or capture of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Although the newspaper report is based on a third-hand account of the meeting as the information was passed on from Ansari through an intermediary, it contains rare details.

It said Ansari's contact with Zarqawi was during a two day meeting to negotiate co-operation between al Qaeda and opposition groups within Iraq.

The newspaper said Zarqawi, believed to be the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, not only helped his guests wash before prayers and spent five hours a day studying the Koran, but that he also served them with water -- a usually subservient role.

It said dishes of rice, chicken and meat stew were served as the assembled leaders sat on woolen rugs on the floor, and described scenes of Zarqawi weeping while praying.

It also cited Zarqawi as taking a backseat role during the gathering.

"He did not dominate the meeting and refused to impose his views," the paper quoted Ansari as saying. He said the 39-year-old Zarqawi told the elders: "I am younger than you and of less knowledge and status."

U.S. officials have said in the past that Zarqawi was believed to have lost a leg. But Ansari was quoted as saying Zarqawi had both legs and walked "with confidence and balance."