BAGHDAD, July 2: Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq killed in a US air strike, has been buried in a secret grave in Iraq, Iraq’s national security adviser said on Sunday.

“The Iraqi authorities recently buried the body of Zarqawi in a marked but secret place,” Mowaffak Al-Rubaie told Reuters.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian, was killed on June 7.

Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden called on the US military to release Zarqawi’s body to his family in a website audio tape on Friday.

He also said Jordan’s King Abdullah should allow him to be buried in his hometown.

“You (King Abdullah) prevented Abu Musab from returning to his country alive,” the recording said.

“What scares you about Zarqawi after his death is that (his funeral) will be huge and will show the degree of sympathy Muslims have for the Mujahideen.”

A US military spokesman declined comment on the burial, saying Zarqawi’s body had been turned over to the Iraqi government ‘and any further comment will come from them’.

He did not say when the handover took place.—Reuters