"Got the motherfucker" - Zarkawi dead ?

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has announced that the fantastical and mythic creation of lively minds, Militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed in a a US air raid near Baquba. According to US National Public Radio CIA chief Stephen Hadley informed President Bush last night at 9:20pm that finger prints and other analysis had confirmed that it was Zarqawi killed.

New York Times story here - on emajor problem was he had been seen in a supermarket in Basra that afternoon, maybe some mis-reporting going on here.

The head of US-led forces in Iraq, General George Casey, (see pic) said Zarqawi was killed at 1815 (1415 GMT) on Wednesday, in an air strike (but others report they blew themselves up) against an "isolated safe house... approximately 8km (five miles) north of Baquba".Zarqawi was said to have been in a meeting with associates at the time. Several other people were reported to have been killed in the raid.The militant leader was reportedly holding a meeting with associates, including spiritual advisor Sheik Abd-al-Rahman, at time of raid
Three men - including Zarqawi - and two women were killed


General Casey said Zarqawi's body was identified through fingerprints, facial recognition and known scars. He promised to give more details on the raid later on Thursday. Surely it would have been enough just to count the number of legs ?

DEbkafile reported

A sample of his DNA is in American possession for a match-up.

The bodies they are trying to identify are of 7 men and one woman, who blew themselves up Sunday, Nov. 20, after their hideout in northern Iraq was under siege by a large US force, backed by tanks and helicopters. The bodies are burned black and unrecognizable. Four Iraqi security officers were killed and 10 injured in the operation.

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Zarqawi's death marked "a great success for Iraq and the global war on terror... Zarqawi was the godfather of sectarian killing and terror in Iraq".

The BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner says he was no evil mastermind but he was a bloodthirsty and violent thug, who made enemies and several mistakes that might have contributed to his downfall.

Shortly after the Zarqawi announcement, the Iraqi parliament approved Mr Maliki's nominees for the key government posts of defence and interior ministers.

The two crucial roles had remained unfilled despite the formation of a coalition government.

Reuters reports the following comments worldwide

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR:

"Today's announcement was very good news because a blow against al Qaeda in Iraq was a blow against al Qaeda everywhere," Blair's office said in a statement.

IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER HOSHIYAR ZEBARI:

"This is a happy day for Iraq and the Iraqi people ... he was the prince of terrorism and encouraged sectarian strife," he told Al-Arabiya television.

BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY MARGARET BECKETT:

"I think it's too early to say that it's a turning point, but it certainly could be helpful and I hope that is the case," she told reporters.

IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER BARHAM SALIH:

"This is a very important victory for the people of Iraq. He was the evil of terrorism. He was responsible for the deaths of many people in Iraq. Having him killed is a very important achievement for us. We are strongly determined to root out the remaining al Qaeda people," Salih told Reuters in Istanbul.

LONDON-BASED ISLAMIST EXPERT YASSER AL-SIRRY:

"Zarqawi's death, if confirmed, will have little effect on the jihad in Iraq."

NADIM SHEHADI, ASSOCIATE FELLOW AT CHATHAM HOUSE'S MIDDLE EAST PROGRAMME IN LONDON

"I don't see it as that significant. Other Zarqawis will soon spring up. If we were talking about the death of the head of a tightly structured organisation then maybe it would be more significant, but we're not. The Iraqi insurency is a very loose organisation and I don't see how the decapitation of it will have such a great impact."

ABU MUJAHED, SPOKESMAN FOR POPULAR RESISTANCE COMMITTEES, UMBRELLA GROUP FOR PALESTINIAN MILITANTS:
"Whether the fighter leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was martyred or not, resistance will continue in all Islamic lands as long as occupation exists."

NATO SPOKESMAN JAMES APPATHURAI:

"I can I think safely say that he will not be missed," he told reporters

ISRAELI OPPOSITION LEADER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU:"Everyone who wants a better world, free of murderous, crazed terrorism needs to welcome the elimination of Zarqawi," he told Israel radio.

SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK, FORMER (ie pensioned off a long time ago) BRITISH SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN IRAQ:
"I think he's been an icon for terrorism, for the jihadists in Iraq, because he was there before the invasion of Iraq,"

DIAA RASHWAN, AL-AHRAM CENTRE FOR POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES:

"The Americans exaggerated from the start the size of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and there will be exaggerations about the effect of his death as there were extreme exaggerations at the time of the arrest of Saddam Hussein...