 Image of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in death released by U.S. military |
With a $25 million bounty on his head, al-Qaida’s leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S.-led air strike.
President Bush called the raid on an isolated safe house 30 miles northeast of Baghdad, which also killed seven of Zarqawi’s aides, a “delivery of justice.”
“Zarqawi’s death is a severe blow to al-Qaida,” the president said. “It’s a victory in the global war on terror, and it is an opportunity for Iraq’s new government to turn the tide of this struggle.”
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Zarqawi’s death “was very good news because a blow against al-Qaida in Iraq was a blow against al-Qaida everywhere.”
Bush noted al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden called the Jordanian-born terrorist “the prince of al-Qaida in Iraq” for his leadership in a bloody campaign to sabotage the new government that has killed thousands.
 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi |
The president warned that despite Zarqawi’s death, “the difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues.”
“We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him,” Bush said. “We can expect the sectarian violence to continue. Yet the ideology of terror has lost one of its most visible and aggressive leaders.”
News of Zarqawi’s death came just before the Iraqi parliament approved crucial posts of defense and interior ministers, which had remained unfilled despite the formation of a coalition government last month, the BBC reported.
Iraqi officials said Zarqawi was killed in a precision strike about five miles north of Baquba.
“We have eliminated Zarqawi,” Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki told a news conference in Baghdad.
Maliki said the airstrike – two 500-pound bombs dropped by F-16s – was based on intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by area residents.
Efforts to find Zarqawi were stepped up after the terrorist leader appeared in a videotape in late April, according to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
The tape helped “pinpoint” Zarqawi’s location, he said, without further explanation.
The head of U.S.-led forces in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, said Zarqawi’s body was identified through fingerprints, facial recognition and known scars.
The coordinated attack against “an isolated safe-house” included U.S. and Iraqi air and ground forces, and a Jordanian government spokesman said Jordanian agents also contributed with intelligence.
Zarqawi reportedly was meeting with aides at the time of the attack. Among the aides killed was spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul Rahman.
In a statement posted on its website, al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed Zarqawi’s death and vowed to continue its “holy war.”
“We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
“The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme.”
Al-Zarqawi led a wave of kidnappings of foreigners and the killings of at least a dozen, including three Americans.
He is blamed for the beheading of two Americans – Nicholas Berg of West Chester, Pa., and Eugene Armstrong, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich.
His campaign spread to Lebanon and Jordan, where he claimed responsibility for a triple suicide bombing against Amman hotels that killed 60.
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