DUBAI, Nov 24: Iraq's most wanted man, Jordanian Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, hit out at ulema for having "betrayed the mujahideen", especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, in a recording on an Internet site on Wednesday.

"Oh ulema of the nation ... you have betrayed us in the darkest circumstances. You have delivered us to our enemy ... you have left the mujahideen to confront (alone) the greatest world power," said the voice attributed to Zarqawi, enemy number one of the United States in Iraq.

The message, which could not immediately be authenticated, was put out on the site http://www.faloja.com and picked up by several sevaeral sites at the address http://www.arapro.net/upfiles/images/message.ram.

The date of the message was not clear. It came as Iraqi security forces were searching for Zarqawi north of Baghdad after receiving reports of his presence in the region.

In Iraq, where he is seen as the frontman for the Al Qaeda network, he is accused by the US military of some of the deadliest attacks and the beheading of hostages. He has a 25 million dollar bounty on his head. -AFP