Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and one of Washington’s most wanted men, has been wounded, a web posting said on Tuesday in an announcement that could mark a breakthrough against the two-year insurgency. It was released on another day of violence in Iraq, with three US soldiers and two Iraqis killed in car bombings. “O nation of Islam... Pray for the healing of our Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from an injury he suffered in the path of God,” said the posting by al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq.

“You are the beloved of the mujahideen, and may God heal you and make you steadfast,” the statement said. The announcement follows unconfirmed reports this month that Zarqawi, a Jordanian for whom the Americans have offered a $ 25 million bounty, was wounded in fighting in western Iraq and had sought treatment at a hospital in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

Those reports followed the capture of one of Zarqawi’s drivers, an aide and his laptop computer during raids in western Iraq, when the US military said it almost also caught Zarqawi.

Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda’s overall leader, are Washington’s two most-wanted man. Tuesday’s web posting did not say how or where Zarqawi was wounded, but urged his followers to pray for his recovery. The language used indicated his injuries could be severe. “The injury of our leader is an honour and an incentive to tighten the noose on the enemies of God and a reason to step up our attacks on them,” the statement said, citing Koranic verses that referred to the Prophet Mohammad being wounded in battle.

If Zarqawi were captured or killed it would mark a significant breakthrough for US and Iraqi forces, although analysts also warn it would not put an end to the insurgency. “I think it’s pretty credible....I wouldn’t be surprised if within a couple of days he ends up being dead and they end up proclaiming his martyrdom,” David Claridge of Janusian Security Risk Management in London said of the web posting. “It will have an impact, but for that group only. I think the insurgency itself will carry on probably much as it is.”

Faris bin Houzam, a Saudi al Qaeda analyst, said there were other militants ready to take over from Zarqawi. “In Saudi Arabia al Qaeda have had several successors when leaders have been killed. They may not have the same experience or power as Zarqawi but they would continue, perhaps with less zeal,” he said. The US military in Iraq and the Pentagon in Washington said they had no new intelligence on Zarqawi’s status.

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“He’s still our number one target to be captured or killed and until that happens the hunt is still on,” said Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan, a US military spokesman. He said similar reports had been heard in the past and were almost impossible to verify. “This could be another one of their ploys, you never know,” he said. A State Department official reiterated that view. “As with any of these kind of stories we have no idea whether this has any basis in fact or not,” the official said.

Magnus Ranstorp, an analyst at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, questioned the logic of revealing his injury. “Why would they want to reveal any type of weakness? It also may be some type of deception, in preparing some other big strike, to lull the coalition forces into a false sense of security,” he said. Zarqawi’s group has claimed responsibility for many of the deadliest attacks in Iraq over the past two years, including the kidnapping and beheading of several foreign hostages.

The report came amid a surge in insurgent attacks since Iraq’s new Shi’ite-led government was named on April 28. On Tuesday, insurgents killed four US soldiers and two Iraqis in car bombings and a shooting in Baghdad, a day after a wave of attacks and bomb blasts killed at least 56 Iraqis and five US troops.

In the past four weeks more than 600 Iraqis have been killed, deepening sectarian tensions and prompting Shi’ite and Sunni Arab leaders to open talks on reconciliation. On Monday, a car bomb exploded outside a Shi’ite mosque in the lawless “triangle of death” area just south of Baghdad, killing at least 21 people, the defence ministry said.

Attacks on Shi’ite mosques and tit-for-tat killings of Shi’ite and Sunni Muslim clerics have raised concerns that Iraq could be sliding towards civil war. One of Zarqawi’s stated aims has been to sow sectarian strife and provoke civil war in Iraq.

The upsurge in violence has sparked a confrontation between the Muslim Clerics Association, an influential Sunni Arab group, and the Badr organisation, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the main parties in the Shi’ite alliance that won the Jan. 30 polls.

The Muslim Clerics Association has accused Badr militiamen of being behind the recent killings of some Sunni Arab clerics. Badr leaders denied the charge. Radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has led two uprisings against US-led troops, says he is in talks with all sides to try to mediate.

<B>Luke BAKER</B>