Video of attack on Zarqawi released

TV footage shows what the US military said is a dead Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Picture / Reuters

BAGHDAD - The US military has released video of yesterday's aerial attack on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al Qaeda leader in Iraq.

Reporters were also shown photos of the corpse of the bearded Zarqawi with facial abrasions and his eyes closed.

The air strike was carried out by two F-16 planes with two 227kg bombs hitting Zarqawi's "safe house".

Zarqawi was behind a bloody campaign of bombings and beheadings, and US President George W. Bush said it could help turn the tide against a long-running insurgency.

"(The air strike) delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq," Bush said in Washington on Thursday. But he signalled he did not expect an early end to the violence.

In one of the most significant developments in Iraq since the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Jordanian-born Zarqawi was killed yesterday in a joint US-Iraqi operation helped by tip-offs from Iraqis and Jordanian intelligence.

Vowing to fight on, al Qaeda in Iraq confirmed the death of Zarqawi, who beheaded several hostages himself. The Sunni Arab, who had a US$25 million bounty on his head, declared war on Iraq's majority Shi'ites, threatening all-out sectarian conflict.

Zarqawi, in his late 30s and whom Osama bin Laden called the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq, had symbolised the radical Islamist insurgency against US occupation.

Special Forces

US special forces were involved in the trailing of Sheikh Abdul-Rahman, Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, that helped uncover Zarqawi's presence in a small house in a palm grove area. Abdul-Rahman was also killed in the air strike.

"(Zarqawi's death provides) an opportunity for Iraq's new government to turn the tide in this struggle," Bush told a news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House.

Despite the killing near the city of Baquba, 65km north of Baghdad, a sombre-looking Bush said Washington's "difficult and necessary mission in Iraq" would have to go on.

A string of bombs killed at least 31 people in Baghdad on Thursday. In the deadliest blast, a roadside bomb in a crowded market in an eastern area killed 13 people, police said.

"We have tough days ahead of us in Iraq that will require the continued patience of the American people," said Bush, battling low poll ratings, partly over Iraq, as his Republican Party faces mid-term congressional elections in November.

In a political breakthrough in Iraq, parliament approved Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's candidates to become the new defence and interior ministers after intense wrangling among his coalition government partners.

Followers of Zarqawi pledged to carry on their fight.

"The death of our leaders ... only makes us more determined to continue the jihad," said an Islamist website statement.

US Major General William Caldwell said an Egyptian militant trained in Afghanistan called Abu al-Masari, who established the first al Qaeda cell in Baghdad, may succeed Zarqawi as head of the group in Iraq.

Caldwell told reporters the operation to track down Zarqawi took many weeks. "It truly was a very long, painstaking, deliberate exploitation of intelligence, information gathering, human sources, electronics, signal intelligence," he said.

Six people, including a woman and a child, were killed in the house but only Zarqawi and Abdul-Rahman have been identified. Zarqawi was identified by his fingerprints and tattoos. A further DNA test was being carried out on Zarqawi.

Baghdad raids

Seventeen raids were launched on suspected hideouts for Zarqawi associates in the Baghdad area after he was killed. They produced a "treasure trove" of information, officials said.

The killing of Zarqawi helped trigger a brief fall in world oil prices below the US$70 a barrel mark.

Zarqawi had inspired a flood of militants from across the Arab world to blow themselves up in suicide missions in Iraq.

Taunting Bush during the video taped killing of a sobbing, blindfolded US hostage, Zarqawi once boasted his fighters "love death just like you love life".

"Killing for the sake of God is their best wish," he said, drawing a knife to hack off the head of his kneeling victim.

Zarqawi's reputation for personal savagery stood out even in a country where brutal killings were routine, and sparked reports bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri were worried his homicidal zeal would undermine support for their network.

"I think arguably over the last several years no single person on this planet has had the blood of more innocent men, women and children on his hands than has Zarqawi," Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters.

"He personified (a) dark, sadistic medieval vision."

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, echoing other world leaders, said he thought Iraqis would be relieved at the news.

Some Arab citizens hailed Zarqawi as a hero for his role in the insurgency but others welcomed his death as a form of justice for a militant whose attacks killed far more Iraqi civilians than foreign troops.

- REUTERS