Iraqi and US officials hailed the killing of Al-Qaeda icon Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a major blow to the insurgency but warned that the war was not over.
BAGHDAD: Iraqi and US officials hailed the killing of Al-Qaeda icon Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a major blow to the insurgency but warned that the war was not over.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki triumphantly announced on Thursday Zarqawi's death in a US air raid on a safe house and US President George W. Bush welcomed the news as a chance for Iraq's new government to turn the tide against extremist violence.
After closing in on Zarqawi for several weeks, following a tip from within his network, US F-16 jets dropped two 500 pound bombs on the house in a palm grove near the Iraqi city of Baquba on Wednesday, officials said.
One of the most significant events in Iraq since the capture of former president Saddam Hussein in December 2003, the strikes brought to an end a bloody reign of terror by the Jordanian militant.
In an interview with the US-funded Radio Sawa, Iraq's new defense minister, Abdel Qader al-Obeidi, said DNA tests confirmed Zaraqawi's identity.
According to a summary of the interview, Obeidi said that the militant's body would soon be handed over to Jordanian authorities.
The US military said five other people were killed, including Sheikh Abdel Rahman, a so-called spiritual advisor to Zarqawi, and a woman and a child. Maliki said earlier eight people had been killed.
Bush hailed Zarqawi's death as a severe blow to Al-Qaeda and a victory in the war on terror, adding that it presented an opportunity for Iraq's new government to turn the tide on this struggle.
But the US leader cautioned: "The difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues. We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him. We can expect the sectarian violence to continue."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the death as a blow to Al-Qaeda but also warned that the violence would continue.
The United States had a special unit, Task Force 145, tracking Zarqawi since the insurgency erupted in Iraq, and Bush confirmed that special operations forces took part in the operation that delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq.
The safe house was just outside the troubled city of Baquba, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Baghdad. US military officials said it had been under watch for some time before the attack at 6:15pm on Wednesday.
The military said Abdul Rahman, the spiritual advisor, had been tracked for several days and led coalition forces to the safe house.
Al-Qaeda confirmed the death. "We announce the martyr death of our sheikh, fighter Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," said a statement posted on an Islamist website, whose authenticity could not be verified.
His death would only reinforce our determination to pursue jihad so that the word of Allah gains the upper hand, the statement said.
The US military showed images of the air strike, which left the safe house a tangle of concrete debris and steel, and photographs of the slain militant's face, with eyes closed and a thin beard.
Caldwell predicted that Zarqawi would be succeeded by an Egyptian-born lieutenant known as Abu al-Masri, whose movements have been monitored for some time and is believed to have first come to Iraq in 2002.
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