BAGHDAD — The U.S. military says it is closing in on
Al Qaida network chief Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi and that the terrorist leader is going down.
In a briefing on recent operations, the U.S. military has released an
unedited copy of a video on Al Zarqawi. The military, which captured the
video as well as documents from Al Zarqawi's lair, said the Al Qaida network
chief was located in the Baghdad area.
"We believe it is only a matter of time until Zarqawi is taken down,"
U.S.-led coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told a briefing on
Thursday. "It's not if, but when."
Officials said the military's search for Al Zarqawi has significantly
reduced suicide strikes around Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported. They said Al Qaida suicide operations
have been reduced from 75 per month in April 2005 to fewer than 25 today.
"He's willing to pull his people from outside the perimeter of Baghdad
into Baghdad to go full out on operations inside of Baghdad," Lynch said.
"Which leads us to believe his personal location is probably somewhere close
to those operations. Zarqawi is zooming in on Baghdad; we are zooming in on
Zarqawi."
Officials said Al Zarqawi heavily edited the video, posted on the
Internet in late April. The unedited video showed Al Zarqawi,
wearing New Balance running shoes, fumbling to fire a machine gun. In the
end, he was helped by several of his aides.
"Zarqawi, who doesn't understand how to operate his weapons system,"
Lynch said. "It makes you wonder."
The video and documents were captured during a series of raids around
Yusufiya, 20 kilometers south of Baghdad. Lynch said Yusufiya was being
employed by Al Qaida for suicide strikes in Baghdad.
Lynch said about 90 percent of suicide attackers were recruited and
equipped by Al Zarqawi. He said that over the last few weeks the U.S.
military has been denying Al Qaida the capability to launch frequent suicide
strikes.
"We believe that he is getting facilitation for foreign fighters and
funds out of Syria," Lynch said. "He is focusing his efforts inside of
Baghdad. Baghdad is his center of gravity."
Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi troops, acting on new intelligence, have been raiding
suspected Al Qaida hideouts in the area of Balad, north of Baghdad.
Officials said new information has been obtained that indicated Al Zarqawi's
whereabouts.
"Iraq has a bright future planned for its children, and that future does
not include Jordanian-born Zarqawi or Al Qaida," U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Thomas
Wright, who did not confirm the effort, told Arab journalists in an April 30
briefing.
Since April 16, the U.S. military has launched four raids against
suspected Al Qaida safe houses in Iraq in search of Al Zarqawi. Over the
last year, the military has captured or killed at least 25 of Al Zarqawi's
lieutenants in central and northern Iraq.
So far, the U.S. military has not announced any specific operation for
Al Zarqawi. Over the last two years, military commanders reported several
near misses in efforts to kill or capture the Al Qaida network chief.
On May 2, U.S. forces killed 10 Al Qaida insurgents at a safe house near
the U.S. air base in Balad. Officials said the some of the surviving
insurgents confirmed that Al Zarqawi had been in the area.
The search for Al Zarqawi has taken place amid a wave of mass-casualty
strikes around Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle. On Wednesday and Thursday,
about 60 people were reported to have been killed in the Baghdad area. In
one strike, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt at a police
recruiting station in Faluja.
On Wednesday, about 1,500 Iraqi soldiers and police conducted an
operation to search for insurgents in the northern city of Mosul. Entitled
Operations Lion's Hunt, the combined Iraqi force, backed by U.S. troops,
arrested 36 suspected insurgents.
