Iraq's Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Air Raid
June 8, 2006 — -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq who led a bloody insurgency of suicide bombings and kidnappings, was killed in an airstrike north of Baghdad.
President Bush welcomed the news of the killing of al-Zarqawi by military forces in Iraq.
Al-Zarqawi's death "is a severe blow to al Qaeda, and it is a significant victory in the war on terror," Bush said in a news conference at the White House.
"We have tough days ahead of us in Iraq that will require the continuing patience of the American people," he said.
Earlier today, Iraq's prime minister in Baghdad confirmed al-Zarqawi's death.
"Today, al-Zarqawi has been eliminated," Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamel al-Maliki said in Arabic amid cheers at a news conference this morning, with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, at his side.
Al Qaeda in Iraq confirmed the death of the group's leader, according to an Islamist Web site posting.
Al-Zarqawi, the prime minister said, was killed along with seven others, including his spiritual adviser Sheik Al Rahman, Wednesday night, while meeting at an isolated house in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba. Diyala is 30 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Al-Zarqawi's death came six days after the Jordanian-born terror leader appeared in a videotape, urging Sunnis to engage in sectarian violence against Shiites in Iraq.
A secretive organization called Task Force 145, made up of some of the most elite U.S. troops, had one goal: hunting down al-Zarqawi.
U.S. forces and their allies came close to capturing al-Zarqawi several times since his campaign began in mid-2003.
The task force narrowly missed capturing him in April 2006 in a raid about 20 miles southwest of Baghdad.
His closest brush may have come in late 2004. Deputy InteriorMinistry Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal said Iraqi security forces caught al-Zarqawi near the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah but thenreleased him because they didn't realize who he was.
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