Zarqawi seeking new Iraq alliances

8216;8216;He told me: I would rather blow myself up and die as a martyr8212;and kill a few Americans along the way8212;than be humiliated by them,8217;8217; Sheikh Abu Omar al-Ansari, leader of the Jeish al Taiifa al Mansoura Army of the Victorious Sect group, was quoted.

Zarqawi, believed to have been behind several videotaped beheadings of foreign hostages in Iraq, has a 25 million bounty on his head8212; the same as that for the killing or capture of Osama bin Laden.

Though the 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 Ansari8217;s contact with Zarqawi was during a two-day meeting to negotiate co-operation between Al-Qaeda and opposition groups within Iraq.

US 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 8220;with confidence and balance8221;.