One of Ours

A group of armed, masked men have issued a public warning to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to leave Iraq on pain of death. The video message was broadcast on the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV network by a previously unknown group calling itself the Salvation Movement.

Describing Mr Zarqawi as a criminal, the men said unless he left immediately he would be hunted down and killed. Mr Zarqawi is the prime suspect in a string of attacks around the world.

“We have started preparing … to capture him and his allies or kill them and present them as a gift to our people,” one of the men in the video is reported as saying. The warning extended to the friends, followers and protectors of the Mr Zarqawi. “This is the last ultimatum to those who give him shelter. This is the last warning,” the masked man says.

The radical 38-year-old Jordanian is believed to have strong links to al-Qaeda and is accused by the US of being behind a spectacular string of suicide bombings in Iraq. Mr Zarqawi’s group has also claimed responsibility for the beheadings of an American and a South Korean hostage.