Cairo, Egypt ? The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a new tape released Friday that his group had mobilized 12,000 fighters and was winning the war in Iraq faster than expected.

A man who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir taunted President Bush in the audio tape, challenging him to keep American troops in the country because the fighters had not shed “enough of your blood.”

The group also welcomed this week’s election in which Bush’s party lost control of Congress and the subsequent resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. It vowed to continue its fight until the White House is blown up.

“The al-Qaida army has 12,000 fighters in Iraq, and they have vowed to die for God’s sake,” al-Muhajir said in a tape released Friday. He also claimed to have another 10,000 unequipped fighters ready to go into battle.

The authenticity of the 22-minute tape and al-Muhajir’s identity could not be verified, but it appeared on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants. The CIA said it was analyzing the tape but declined to comment further.

Al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, took over as leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, one of the country’s deadliest terror groups, after his predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June.

Al-Muhajir called Bush “the most stupid president” in U.S. history and declared that was allowing al-Qaida to win the war more quickly than expected.

But he challenged Bush not to leave Iraq, saying, “We haven’t had enough of your blood yet.”

“We call on the lame duck (Bush) not to hurry his escape the way the defense secretary did,” al-Muhajir said.

“Remain steadfast on the battlefield, you coward,” al-Muhajir said to Bush.

Al-Muhajir praised the results of Tuesday’s elections in which Democrats swept to power in the House and the Senate due partly to voter dissatisfaction over the handling of the war in Iraq.

“The American people have put their feet on the right path by … realizing their president’s betrayal in supporting Israel,” the terror leader said. “So they voted for something reasonable in the last elections.”