Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, has claimed responsibility for some of the most high-profile suicide bombings in Iraq and also for other attacks in Jordan, including the bombing of three hotels in Amman in November that killed 63 people.

In the video, al-Zarqawi denounced militias linked to Shiite political parties in the new government that many accuse of running death squads killing Sunnis in a wave of sectarian violence the past months.

"The Badr Brigades and Mahdi Army are storming the houses of Sunnis under the pretext of searching for the mujahedeen, and even if they didn't find any, they kill men and arrest women, put them in prison and rape them and steal everything from the houses of the Sunnis," he said.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have frequently accused al-Zarqawi of seeking to spark a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites, and many of his group's suicide bombings have targeted Shiite civilians and mosques. Al-Zarqawi follows a radical Salafi version of Islam that vilifies Shiism.

Much of Friday's tape was aimed at rallying Sunnis ¡ª who make up the majority of Muslims in the Arab world but are a minority in Iraq ¡ª against Shiites across the Mideast and Iran, which many Sunni Iraqis deeply mistrust for its influence with the Shiite parties that now dominate Iraq's government.

"There is no difference between Shiites of Iran and the Shiites in the rest of the Arab world either in Iraq, Lebanon. their beliefs are the same .. their hatred of Sunnis is the same," he said, adding, "The roots of Jews and the Shiites are the same."

"Anyone calling for reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites is either a man who knows the truth but is betraying his religion and his nation ... or a man who is ignorant and should be taught," he said.

He said Shiite leaders in Iran and Lebanon ¡ª including the Hezbollah guerrilla movement ¡ª only pretend to confront Israel and the United States. He mocked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for "screaming and calling for wiping Israel from the map," but doing nothing, referring to anti-Israeli comments earlier this year.

Al-Zarqawi had lowered his profile earlier this year, announcing in January that his group was joining an umbrella organization of insurgent groups called the Mujahedeen Shura Council. But his April videotape appeared aimed at putting the al-Qaida leader back in the spotlight. It showed dramatic images of him firing a machine gun in the desert and consulting with mujahedeen leaders, apparently to emphasize his control.

Among other attacks, U.S. officials believe al-Zarqawi personally beheaded American businessman Nicholas Berg, whose killing was shown on a videotape distributed by al-Qaida in Iraq in 2004.