BAGHDAD: Al-Qaida in Iraq named a successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi yesterday and said he would press ahead with the bloody campaign begun by the Jordanian militant killed last week.

"The shura council of al-Qaida in Iraq unanimously agreed on Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, to be a successor to Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," said a statement signed by al-Qaida and posted on a website frequently used by Islamist militants.

"Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir is a good brother, has a history in jihad and is knowledgeable. We ask God that he...continue what Sheikh Abu Musab began," it said.

Muhajir, little known in the West, was not among the names that al-Qaida experts had expected to succeed Zarqawi.

Al-Qaida makes up about 5 per cent of Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgency but its suicide bombers have carried out the most spectacular attacks.

Although US and Iraqi leaders have hailed Zarqawi's death in an American air strike as a major blow against al-Qaida, no one has suggested the 500-pound (250-kilogram) bombs that ended his life will halt violence tearing the country apart.

Earlier, a source in the prime minister's office said Iraq was considering inviting members of insurgent groups to national reconciliation talks.

Leaders will meet to agree a definition of "resistance" groups and then some of their members will be invited to take part in the talks on July 22.

It was not clear whether this signalled a softening of the Shi'ite-led government's position on Sunni Arab insurgents seeking to overthrow it.

Zarqawi lived for an hour after raid

Zarqawi lived for almost an hour after the first US bomb struck his hideout north of Baghdad last Wednesday, a US military spokesman said yesterday.

Major General William Caldwell said Zarqawi died 55 minutes after the first of two 500-pound (227-kg) bombs hit the building and 24 minutes after US forces arrived at the scene.

"This (his death) was approximately 24 minutes after the coalition forces arrived and approximately 52 minutes after the first strike on the safe house," he told a news conference.

Caldwell said a US medic treated Zarqawi as he lapsed in and out of consciousness and bled through the nose.

"At approximately 6:40 pm coalition forces were on the scene and took possession of Zarqawi in order to positively identify him both visually and by searching for known scars," he said.

A US medical officer, Steve Jones, told the same briefing that Zarqawi died from blast waves caused by the bombs, adding that he must have been in an enclosed space.

Jones said DNA testing had confirmed Zarqawi's identity.

Caldwell said the fate of the body would be discussed with Iraq's government.

The US military has said a total of six people were killed in the raid in the village of Hibhib north of Baghdad.

Al-Qaida in Iraq vowed on Sunday to carry out large-scale attacks to "shake the enemy" after Zarqawi's death.

Source: China Daily