Al-Qaida chief al-Zarqawi killed
(Reuters/AP)
Updated: 2006-06-08 15:40 He also warned those who would follow the militant's lead that "whenever
there is a new al-Zarqawi, we will kill him."
"This is a message for all
those who embrace violence, killing and destruction to stop and to (retreat)
before it's too late," he said. "It is an open battle with all those who incite
sectarianism."
A U.S. soldier stands next to the picture
of the dead al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, during a news
conference at the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad June 8, 2006.
[Reuters]
Iraqiya television said seven Zarqawi aides were also
killed in the raid in the violent city of Baquba 65 km (40 miles) north of the
capital.
The most feared leader of the Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq,
with a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head, Zarqawi has inspired an apparently
endless supply of militants from across the Arab world to blow themselves up in
suicide missions in Iraq.
Iraqi and U.S. officials say he has formed a
loose alliance with Saddam Hussein's former agents, benefiting from their money,
weapons and intelligence assets to press his campaign.
Some posters of
the most wanted man in Iraq show him in glasses, looking like an accountant,
others as a tough-looking man in a black skullcap.
Believed to be in his
late 30s, Zarqawi remains a mysterious figure for Iraqis, who only know the
carnage of his bombers.
His killing could be seen as one of the most
significant developments for the United States forces and the Iraqi government
it backs since the capture of former President Saddam Hussein.
Jordan's help
Jordan provided the U.S. military with information that helped in tracking
down and killing al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian
official with knowledge of the operation said.
Some of the information
came from Jordan's sources inside Iraq and led the U.S. military to the area of
Baqouba, the region northeast of Baghdad where Iraq's prime minister said
al-Zarqawi was killed in an airstrike Wednesday night, the official said.
The official would not elaborate, but Jordan is known to have
intelligence agents operating in Iraq to hunt down Islamic militants.
Jordan also analyzed a video issued by al-Zarqawi in April and helped
pinpoint where it was filmed, the official said, speaking on condition of
anonymity because he was addressing intelligence issues.
The video
showed images of al-Zarqawi standing in a desert landscape, firing a machine
gun.
The official did not give details about how discovering the
location led the military to al-Zarqawi or whether the video was filmed in the
same location where the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi was killed. When the video
came out, observers said the flat desert setting resembled parts of Iraq's Anbar
province, to the west of Diyala province, where Baqouba is located.
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