Family refuses to comment on Zarqawi's death

A Jordanian Islamist friend of Zarqawi said if confirmed, his death would be an "honour".

The family of Al-Qaeda chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on Thursday refused to comment on Iraq's official announcement of his killing while a friend in his native Jordan hailed it as an "honour".

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Zarqawi's sister Om Kudama slammed down the phone each time an agency reporter tried to get her reaction to the announcement made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

But a Jordanian Islamist friend of Zarqawi said if confirmed his death would be an "honour".

"If he has really been martyred it would be his wish come true and an honour," said Firas Riyalat, a merchant and Islamist from the northern Jordanian town of Salt.

Jordanian-born Zarqawi has been sentenced to death in his country on three separate occasions for the murder of a US diplomat in Amman in 2002, as well as terrorist attacks.

He had a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head for attacks in Iraq.

In 1999 Zarqawi was freed by Jordan's King Abdullah II in an amnesty. Iraq-Qaeda-