Al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death was announced amid a round of applause by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at a news conference Thursday.
This is an image made from video originally posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 on the Internet showing al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Photo: (AP / via IntelCenter)
Al-Maliki said al-Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening in a house 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, and that he was positively identified according to fingerprints and facial recognition.
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"Today, al-Zarqawi was eliminated," Al-Maliki told a news conference, drawing loud applause from reporters in the hall where he made the announcement, flanked by US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and US Gen. George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar rejected the suggestion that the killing of al-Zarqawi would hinder armed struggle.
[His] death was only a minor loss to the anti-US resistance movement in Iraq, the Palestinian Authority's foreign minister said on Thursday. Zahar, who has been meeting Pakistani officials in the capital of Islamabad, said the Palestinians were "blessing every effort to eliminate the existence of occupation."
Dead body of al Qaida in Iraq head Abu Musab Zarqawi
Photo: CNN
"We are dead sure that assassination of any of the people (like al-Zarqawi) who are resisting will not ... end the resistance," Zahar said at a press conference.
According to al-Maliki, the airstrike was the result of intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by residents in the area, and US forces acted on the information. He also said that there were several attempts to kill al-Zarqawi over the last 10 days.
"Those who disrupt the course of life, like al-Zarqawi, will have a tragic end," he said.
Khalilzad added, "the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a huge success for Iraq and the international war on terror," but cautioned that it did not signify the end of the insurgence in Iraq.
Al-Zarqawi's brother said that his family had long anticipated his death, but that the family was "happy" that he had become a martyr.
Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu reacted to the assassination of al-Zarqawi with satisfaction. "The terrorist leaders need to know that if they want to send others to be Shahids (martyrs), they themselves will become Shahids," he said.
Netanyahu told Israel Radio that the cooperation between Israel and the US in the war on terror had increased greatly and that intelligence was being shared to catch terrorists and thwart attacks.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AP over the phone that "since al-Zarqawi's latest video tape, there was a serious effort in chasing him and detecting his movement. The location (where Zarqawi appeared in the video tape) was pinpointed."
The Jordanian-born terrorist, who is believed to have personally beheaded at least two American hostages, became Iraq's most wanted terrorist, as notorious as Osama bin Laden, to whom he swore allegiance in 2004.
The United States had put a US$25 million (about €20 million) bounty on al-Zarqawi, the same as bin Laden.
In the past year, al-Zarqawi had moved his campaign beyond Iraq's borders, claiming to have carried out a Nov. 9, 2005 triple suicide bombing against hotels in Amman that killed 60 people, as well as other attacks in Jordan and even a rocket attack from Lebanon into northern Israel.
US forces and their allies had come close to capturing al-Zarqawi several times since his campaign began in mid-2003.
His closest brush may have come in late 2004.
Deputy Interior Ministry Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal said Iraqi security forces caught al-Zarqawi near the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah but then released him because they didn't realize who he was.
In May 2005, Web statements by his group said al-Zarqawi had been wounded in fighting with Americans and was being treated in a hospital abroad, raising speculation over a successor among his lieutenants. But days later, a statement said al-Zarqawi was fine and had returned to Iraq. There was never any independent confirmation of the reports of his wounding.
US forces believe they also just missed capturing al-Zarqawi in a Feb. 20, 2005, raid in which troops closed in on his vehicle west of Baghdad near the Euphrates River. His driver and another associate were captured and al-Zarqawi's computer was seized along with pistols and ammunition.
US troops twice launched massive invasions of Fallujah, the stronghold used by al-Qaida in Iraq fighters and other insurgents west of Baghdad. An April 2004 offensive left the city still in insurgent hands, but the October 2004 assault wrested it from them. However, al-Zarqawi, if he was in the city, escaped.
