World Tribune.com

Al Zarqawi, 7 lieutenants,
killed by U.S. air strike

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, June 8, 2006

BAGHDAD — Al Qaida network chief Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi has been killed.

Iraqi officials said Al Zarqawi, responsible for the death of thousands of people in such countries as Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, was killed in a U.S. air strike near Baqouba north of Baghdad on Wednesday. They said the Al Qaida network chief had been tracked by Iraqi and U.S. military units for nearly a year, Middle East Newsline reported.

"Today Zarqawi was defeated," Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki told a news conference on Thursday. "This is a message to all those who use violence killing and devastation to disrupt life in Iraq to rethink within themselves before it is too late."

Al Zarqawi, regarded as the most active commander in Al Qaida, was said to have been killed with seven of his lieutenants, officials said. They said Al Zarqawi, identified by facial recognition, was killed in Hib, a village about eight kilometers north of Baqubah. Hours after his death was announced, a major suicide strike took place in Baghdad.

"Zarqawi was the godfather of sectarian killing and terrorism in Iraq," U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said. "His organization has been responsible for the death of thousands of civilians in Iraq and abroad."


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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