MB Civic

Ellen Knickmeyer & Jonathan Finer | Thursday, June 8, 2006; 6:48 AM | The Washington Post

BAGHDAD, June 8 –Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the mastermind behind hundreds of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings whose leadership of the insurgent group al- Qaeda in Iraq made him the most wanted man in the country, was killed Wednesday evening by an air strike near Baqubah, north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday.

The stated aim of the Jordanian-born Zarqawi, in addition to ousting U.S. and other forces from Iraq, was to foment bloody sectarian strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, a prospect that has become a grim reality over the past several months.

Zarqawi, a Sunni, was killed along with seven aides, officials said.

His killing is the most significant public triumph for the U.S.-led coalition since the 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein, although analysts warned that Zarqawi’s killing would not stem the tide of insurgency and violence in Iraq any more than Hussein’s capture did.

Underscoring that warning, an explosion ripped through a busy outdoor market in Baghdad just a few hours after Zarqawi’s killing was announced. The blast, in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood, killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 40, the Associated Press reported.

“Today Zarqawi was defeated,” said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, appearing at a midday news conference with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq. “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,” Maliki added.

Zarqawi was killed in a rural house in the village of Hib Hib, about 55 miles northwest of Baqhdad, Maliki said.

“Tips and intelligence from Iraqi senior leaders from his network led forces to al-Zarqawi and some of his associates who were conducting a meeting . . . when the air strike was launched,” Casey said.

He said Zarqawi’s identify was confirmed by “fingerprint verification, facial recognition and known scars.”

The statement was met by applause among Iraqi reporters assembled in a briefing room. The announcement, which was confirmed by a Website linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq, was also met by celebratory gunfire in the streets of Baghdad.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which had recently rebranded itself as part of a coalition of insurgent groups called the Mujahideen Al-Shura Council, had claimed responsibility for hundreds of attacks in the past three years, including many of the deadliest.

The group’s focus had recently begun to shift from attacks on military forces to the targeting of civilians, most of them Shiites. In an audio statement last week he called for the killing of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country’s most revered Shiite cleric.

U.S. forces had placed a $25 million bounty on Zarqawi, the organization’s leader and most public face. He was last seen publicly in a video that aired in early May, after widespread reports that U.S. and Iraqi forces had stepped up efforts to capture him.

“Zarqawi was the godfather of sectarian killing and terrorism in Iraq,” Khalilzad said. He sought a civil war within Islam and a global war of civilizations. “His organization has been responsible for the death of thousands of civilians in Iraq and abroad.”

U.S. commanders have consistently portrayed al-Qaeda in Iraq as the country’s leading insurgent group and made killing Zarqawi and other top leaders a top priority. “The death of Abu Musab Zarqawi marks a great success for Iraq and the global war on terror,” Khalilzad said.

But he also cautioned “Zarqawi’s death will not in itself end the violence in Iraq.”

After Hussein was captured in an underground shelter near his birthplace of Tikrit there was widespread speculation the insurgency would weaken, but violence has since steadily escalated.

A statement purportedly from al-Qaeda in Iraq posted today on mosques in Ramadi, a violence-wracked city in western Iraq, claimed that the organization would be led by “a new prince” who had been named by Zarqawi to succeed him in the event of his death. “He will be a copy” of Zarqawi, the statement said.

Casey, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, acknowledged that “although the designated leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq is now dead, the terrorist organization still poses a threat.”

Khalilzad called the news “a good day for Iraq,” and later added it was “a good day for Americans as well.” He urged Iraqis to unite, in the wake of the news, behind Maliki’s fledgling government, which took months to form and has struggled to agree on nominees for key ministerial posts.

Minutes after the Zarqawi’s death was announced the long-debated interior, defense and national security posts were filled in a giddy session of parliament. Abdul Qadir Muhammed Jassim, a Sunni Arab and former Iraqi army commander, was named defense minister, Jawad al-Bolani, a Shiite, was put in charge of the interior ministry, and Sherwan Alwaeli, a Kurd, was named the country’s top official for national security.

“I call on Iraq’s various communities to take responsibility for bringing sectarian violence to an end, and for all Iraqis to unite behind Prime Minister Maliki,” Khalilzad said.