An audio recording said to be of al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq - who the government said was killed this week - has appeared on a militant website.

The website says it is a message from Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who Iraq said had died in factional fighting. There is no confirmation the tape is genuine.

The tape says claims of internal fighting are "lies and fabrication".

The interior ministry had said it had "primary information" Masri was dead but the US was unable to confirm it.

Bounty

Is not known when the tape was made.

The voice says: "What you hear in the news on satellite channels about fighting between us and Jihadist groups or with our blessed tribes is just lies and fabrication.

"It is a desperate attempt to divide the Jihadist ranks."

The interior ministry first made the claim Masri was dead on Tuesday but it was quickly denied by the Islamic State in Iraq, an umbrella organization of Sunni militant groups.

The recording also criticizes the country's largest Sunni Muslim party for taking part in the political process.

It brands its leader, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a "criminal" who "relentlessly calls for the [US] occupier to remain".

It says: "The leaders of the Islamic Party are renegades but we make it clear that we don't want to fight them and be drawn into secondary battles."

Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, is believed to have trained in Afghanistan and formed al-Qaeda's first cell in Baghdad.

He has led al-Qaeda in Iraq since June 2006, when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike.

Several previous reports of Masri's death have proven unfounded. The US government has a $5m bounty on his head.

Photo caption

Abu Ayyub al-Masri in a grab taken from a video broadcast in October 2006