BAGHDAD — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda-linked militant who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings, kidnappings and hostage beheadings in Iraq, has been killed in a U.S. air raid north of Baghdad, Iraq's Prime Minister said Thursday.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Mr. al-Zarqawi was killed about Wednesday evening along with seven aides."Today, al-Zarqawi was eliminated," Mr. al-Maliki told a news conference, drawing loud applause from reporters in the hall where he made the announcement, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. General George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Gen. Casey said Mr. al-Zarqawi's body has been identified by fingerprints and facial recognition.
Mr. al-Maliki said the air strike was the result of intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by residents in the area, and U.S. forces acted on the information. "Those who disrupt the course of life, like al-Zarqawi, will have a tragic end," he said. Mr. Khalilzad added "the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a huge success for Iraq and the international war on terror."
The Jordanian-born militant, who is believed to have personally beheaded at least two American hostages, became Iraq's most wanted militant, as notorious as Osama bin Laden, to whom he swore allegiance in 2004. The United States put a $25-million (U.S.) bounty on Mr. al-Zarqawi, the same as Mr. bin Laden.
In the past year, he moved his campaign beyond Iraq's borders, claiming to have carried out a Nov. 9, 2005, triple suicide bombing against hotels in Amman that killed 60 people, as well as other attacks in Jordan and even a rocket attack from Lebanon into northern Israel.
Another Palestinian terrorist is dead and I think the world is a better place for that.
2 comments:
Good riddance to him. Improves the human race to have him out of it. Only problem is he will be replaced by some other nutcase and the terrorism will keep going.
Yes. One often finds the Palestinians radicals operating/cooperating in international terrorist movements. Claire Sterling's research documented that the ties of Palestinian radicalism go quite deep and often with seemingly unlikely groups. There have been a number of incidents in recent years that the IRA was operating in the West Bank and lent much expertise on bomb making and snipering techniques.
Post a Comment