PARIS, June 30: Osama bin Laden has warned that jihad will go on in Iraq despite the death of local Al Qaeda chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to a new message attributed to the Al Qaeda network on Friday.

In an audiotape aired on an Islamist website, the speaker said to be Osama paid a glowing tribute to Zarqawi killed in a US air strike three weeks ago.

He described the Jordanian-born Zarqawi as “a lion of Islam and jihad who does honour not just to his family and tribe but to the whole of mankind.”

“We will keep up our fight to bleed your money dry, kill your men and so that (your forces) go home defeated, as we defeated you in Somalia,” Osama told US President Bush. “Don’t rejoice too much. The banner (of jihad) has not fallen.—AFP