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BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 8 ââ¬â Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in an American air strike on an isolated safe house north of Baghdad at 6.15 p.m. local time on Wednesday, top United States and Iraqi officials said today.
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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. More Photos û
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Zarqawi's Life Story
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Statement by U.S. Forces in Iraq (June 8, 2006)
Attacks, Kidnappings Claimed by Al-Zarqawi (June 8, 2006)
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Reuters/Pool
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, right, with Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, at a news conference announcing the death of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. More Photos >
At a joint news conference with Iraq's prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the top American military commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., said Zarqawi's body had been positively identified by fingerprints, "facial recognition" and "known scars." He said seven of Zarqawi's associates had also been killed in the strike.
The announcement of Zarqawi's death, shortly before noon today in Baghdad, appeared to mark a major watershed in the war. With a $25 million bounty the United States had on his head, the Jordan-born Zarqawi has been the most wanted man in Iraq for his leadership of Islamic terrorist groups that have carried out many of the most brutal attacks of the war, including scores of suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.
"Today, we have managed to put an end to Zarqawi," said a beaming Mr. Maliki, who took office three weeks ago at the head of Iraq's first full-term government since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. He said the death should be a warning to other insurgent leaders. "They should stop now," he said. "They should review their situation and resort to logic while there is still time."
The announcement came on the same day that Mr. Maliki's new government took a crucial step forward by winning parliamentary approval of nominees for interior and defense minister, which had been blocked by disagreements between political parties.
American and Iraqi officials all muted their high spirits today with a recognition that violence is bound to continue, a point underscored by a midday blast in eastern Baghdad that killed at least a dozen people, news services reported.
"Unfortunately, this kind of violence has become routine," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in a televised interview.
Zarqawi, an adopted name taken from the town of Zarqa in Jordan where the insurgent leader was raised, had assumed an almost mythic status for his long run of terrorist attacks and statements issued on Islamic militant Web sites that declared his goal to be the establishment of a new "caliphate" in Iraq. The term is taken from the term given to the vast areas of the Arab world that came under strict Islamic rule within 100 years of the death of the Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century A.D.
Mr. Maliki, the prime minister, said the raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader had taken place in an area known as Hibhib in Diyala province, which stretches north and east of Baghdad to the Iranian border. The area, 55 miles north of Baghdad, has drawn intensified American military activity in recent weeks in response to a new wave of sectarian killings, including one on Sunday in which Sunni Arab gunmen pulled 20 people off minibuses near Baquba, including seven high school students, and killed them.
General Casey said an American air strike had targeted "a single dwelling in a wooded area surrounded by very dense palm forest" eight kilometers, or five miles, north of the city of Baquba, and that "precision munitions" had been used, a phrase that usually refers to laser-guided bombs or missiles. An unconfirmed report on Iraq's state-owned television channel, al-Iraqiya, said the attack had been carried out by American attack helicopters.
Mr. Zebari said the American military had been following Zarqawi "very closely" in recent weeks. He said Zarqawi had been vulnerable ever since he had lost his refuge in Anbar province, which is largely in the hands of Sunni insurgents. "He had been forced out of Anbar" after Sunnis there "joined hands with their Iraqi brothers," Mr. Zebari said.
Fuller details of the raid were expected to be given at an American military briefing at 4 p.m. local time, 8 a.m. Eastern time.
"Zarqawi was the godfather of sectarian killing in Iraq," Mr. Khalilzad said. "He led a civil war within Islam and a global war of civilizations."
To this, the ambassador added a note of caution. "Zarqawi's death will not end the violence in Iraq," he said, "but it is an important step in the right direction." He said it was also an important step for the Maliki government, new in power and facing an uphill struggle to bolster the flagging confidence of Iraqis in the ability of the Baghdad leadership to bring an end to killing that human rights groups say has cost at least 30,000 civilian lives, and possibly many more.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1149825600&en=d6d9b3b68ae5cc4a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Skip to next paragraph Enlarge this Image
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. More Photos û
Multimedia
Related
Statement by U.S. Forces in Iraq (June 8, 2006)
Attacks, Kidnappings Claimed by Al-Zarqawi (June 8, 2006)
Enlarge this Image
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, right, with Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, at a news conference announcing the death of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. More Photos >
At a joint news conference with Iraq's prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the top American military commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., said Zarqawi's body had been positively identified by fingerprints, "facial recognition" and "known scars." He said seven of Zarqawi's associates had also been killed in the strike.
The announcement of Zarqawi's death, shortly before noon today in Baghdad, appeared to mark a major watershed in the war. With a $25 million bounty the United States had on his head, the Jordan-born Zarqawi has been the most wanted man in Iraq for his leadership of Islamic terrorist groups that have carried out many of the most brutal attacks of the war, including scores of suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.
"Today, we have managed to put an end to Zarqawi," said a beaming Mr. Maliki, who took office three weeks ago at the head of Iraq's first full-term government since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. He said the death should be a warning to other insurgent leaders. "They should stop now," he said. "They should review their situation and resort to logic while there is still time."
The announcement came on the same day that Mr. Maliki's new government took a crucial step forward by winning parliamentary approval of nominees for interior and defense minister, which had been blocked by disagreements between political parties.
American and Iraqi officials all muted their high spirits today with a recognition that violence is bound to continue, a point underscored by a midday blast in eastern Baghdad that killed at least a dozen people, news services reported.
"Unfortunately, this kind of violence has become routine," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in a televised interview.
Zarqawi, an adopted name taken from the town of Zarqa in Jordan where the insurgent leader was raised, had assumed an almost mythic status for his long run of terrorist attacks and statements issued on Islamic militant Web sites that declared his goal to be the establishment of a new "caliphate" in Iraq. The term is taken from the term given to the vast areas of the Arab world that came under strict Islamic rule within 100 years of the death of the Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century A.D.
Mr. Maliki, the prime minister, said the raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader had taken place in an area known as Hibhib in Diyala province, which stretches north and east of Baghdad to the Iranian border. The area, 55 miles north of Baghdad, has drawn intensified American military activity in recent weeks in response to a new wave of sectarian killings, including one on Sunday in which Sunni Arab gunmen pulled 20 people off minibuses near Baquba, including seven high school students, and killed them.
General Casey said an American air strike had targeted "a single dwelling in a wooded area surrounded by very dense palm forest" eight kilometers, or five miles, north of the city of Baquba, and that "precision munitions" had been used, a phrase that usually refers to laser-guided bombs or missiles. An unconfirmed report on Iraq's state-owned television channel, al-Iraqiya, said the attack had been carried out by American attack helicopters.
Mr. Zebari said the American military had been following Zarqawi "very closely" in recent weeks. He said Zarqawi had been vulnerable ever since he had lost his refuge in Anbar province, which is largely in the hands of Sunni insurgents. "He had been forced out of Anbar" after Sunnis there "joined hands with their Iraqi brothers," Mr. Zebari said.
Fuller details of the raid were expected to be given at an American military briefing at 4 p.m. local time, 8 a.m. Eastern time.
"Zarqawi was the godfather of sectarian killing in Iraq," Mr. Khalilzad said. "He led a civil war within Islam and a global war of civilizations."
To this, the ambassador added a note of caution. "Zarqawi's death will not end the violence in Iraq," he said, "but it is an important step in the right direction." He said it was also an important step for the Maliki government, new in power and facing an uphill struggle to bolster the flagging confidence of Iraqis in the ability of the Baghdad leadership to bring an end to killing that human rights groups say has cost at least 30,000 civilian lives, and possibly many more.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1149825600&en=d6d9b3b68ae5cc4a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
