overnight in an operation by U.S. Special Operations Forces, Iraq’s Prime Minister confirmed Thursday, June 8, 2006.
Nuri al-Maliki said the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi, was killed south of the capital Baghdad. In published remarks, Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister said 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".
ABC News said he was killed in a US air attack on a house in Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was expected to make an important announcement at a news conference in Baghdad on
Al-Zarqawi, who is believed to have personally beheaded at least two American hostages, became Iraq’s most wanted man, the Arabic news channel Aljazeera and other media reported. The US had put a $25 million bounty on al-Zarqawi, the same as on Osama bin Laden, who is seen as the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks.
It was not immediately clear what impact the new would have on Iraq’s Christian minority, which has complained of rising Islamic violence directed against them, BosNewsLife observed. There are an estimated 750,000 Christians in Iraq, as many have fled the troubled nation.
NEIGHBORING JORDAN ATTACKED
However in neighboring Jordan, Christians, who were seen by al-Zarqawi as supporting the US, were in danger, along with people of other religions as he had moved his campaign beyond Iraq’s borders, claiming to have carried out a November 9, 2005, triple bombing against hotels in Amman that killed 60 people. He also claimed other attacks in Jordan and even a rocket attack from Lebanon into northern Israel, news reports said.
US forces and their allies had reportedly come close to capturing al-Zarqawi several times since his campaign began in mid-2003. The American military reportedly also believes it just missed capturing al-Zarqawi in a February 20, 2005, raid in when 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, news reports said.
"His closest brush may have come in late 2004" when Major-General Hussein Kamal, the then deputy interior ministry, said Iraqi security forces caught al-Zarqawi near Falluja but then released him because they did not realize who he was, Aljazeera quoted reports as saying.
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, news reports said. But days later, a statement said al-Zarqawi was fine and had returned to Iraq. (Stay with BosNewsLife for ongoing coverage).
