BAGHDAD, Iraq – The U.S. military displayed images of the battered face of Iraq’s most feared terrorist Thursday and Iraqis celebrated with gunfire after American bombs killed the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. It was a long-sought victory for U.S. forces, but officials cautioned of violence ahead. And a string of blasts proved that prediction almost immediately.
Within minutes of the announcement of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki named three key security ministers – military and political breakthroughs in rapid succession that marked the biggest potential turnaround in Iraq in months.
The two events may give the United States and its Iraqi allies another brief chance to build momentum toward stability and away from violence. With al-Zarqawi out of the way and the new government in place, some Sunni Arab leaders may be emboldened to resume a dialogue they started last fall – exchanges sunk by al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaida in Iraq.
If another effort is made, much will depend on the Iraqi government’s ability to live up to its promises to build a political system that includes all groups, including disaffected Sunnis. More than a dozen Sunni Arab insurgent groups are believed to be operating in Iraq, and a few use tactics just as ruthless as al-Zarqawi’s.
“This popular front and national unity is our guarantee to fighting all challenges,” al-Maliki told a Baghdad news conference. But, he warned, “whenever there is a new al-Zarqawi, we will kill him.”
Tips from within al-Zarqawi’s own terror network helped the U.S. locate and bomb a safe house where the al-Qaida leader was meeting in secret with top associates, American military officials said. Al-Maliki told al-Arabiya television the $25 million bounty the U.S. put on al-Zarqawi’s head would be honored, saying “we will meet our promise.”
Al-Zarqawi was killed at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday after an intense two-week hunt that U.S. officials said first led to the terror leader’s spiritual adviser and then to him.
Loud applause broke out as al-Maliki, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, announced at the news conference that “al-Zarqawi was eliminated.”
Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the American airstrike targeted “an identified, isolated safe house.” Four other people, including a woman and a child, were killed with al-Zarqawi and Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, the terrorist’s spiritual consultant.
Al-Qaida confirmed al-Zarqawi’s death in a statement and vowed to continue its “holy war.” Curiously, the announcement was signed by al-Iraqi, who was identified as deputy “emir” of the group, perhaps in an attempt to spread confusion.
Fingerprints, tattoos and scars helped U.S. troops identify al-Zarqawi’s body, White House spokesman Tony Snow said. The military released pictures of al-Zarqawi’s face after the airstrike, with his eyes closed and spots of blood, images reminiscent of photos of Hussein’s dead sons.
Spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell also showed a videotape of the air assault taken by one of the F-16 fighter jets that dropped the two 500-pound bombs, obliterating the terrorist leader’s safe house five miles west of Baqouba.
“We had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Zarqawi was in the house,” Caldwell said.
U.S. and Iraqi intelligence found al-Zarqawi by following al-Iraqi, who was seen going into the house shortly before American jets were ordered into action in the skies 30 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Intelligence officials had identified al-Iraqi several weeks ago with help from “somebody inside the al-Zarqawi network,” Caldwell said.
“Through a painstaking intelligence effort, we were able to start tracking him, monitor his movements and establish when he was doing his linkup with al-Zarqawi,” he said.
In the final two weeks of the manhunt, Caldwell indicated U.S. and Iraqi forces had pinpointed the location of many other key al-Qaida figures but had held off for fear of spooking their boss. After al-Zarqawi was killed, U.S. and Iraqi forces carried out 17 raids in the Baghdad region, he said.
Al-Zarqawi was known for his extraordinary brutality as one of the extremist leaders in the largely Sunni Arab insurgency, earning him the title of “the slaughtering sheik” among his followers. He is believed to have wielded the huge knives used in beheading American hostages Nicholas Berg and Eugene Armstrong. Grisly videos of the slayings were posted on the Internet, part of the propaganda campaign that was key to al-Zarqawi’s movement.
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