US authorities on Friday confirmed the authenticity of a latest audio tape released by al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

 

The Central Intelligence Agency said in a statement that technical analysis has determined that the speaker in the tape is bin Laden.

 

The 19-minute tape was released on the Internet earlier in the day.

 

In his monologue, bin Laden praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, his top operative in Iraq who was killed on June 7 in a US airstrike, as a "martyr", demanding US President George W. Bush hand over the body of al-Zarqawi to his family.

 

It was the fourth audio message put out this year by bin Laden. New video images of him have not appeared since October 2004.

 

Earlier this month, al Qaida's second-in-command Ayman al-Zarqawi vowed vengeance against the US for the death of Zarqawi.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2006)