Al Qaeda In Iraq Leader al-Zarqawi Survived Bomb Blast - Died In US Custody of Wounds - 5 Other Killed In Home Outside Baquba

June 9th 2006

al-Zarqawi

Today new details of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have come to light. Originally, the US military said the 39 year old al-Zarqawi was killed outright by 500 pound bombs dropped on his hide-out.

Now it appears al-Zarqawi survived the impact of the bombs. The bombs were so powerful, according to Associated Press reporter Patrick Quinn, that they tore a huge crater in the date palm forest where the house was nestled just outside the town of Baqouba. The local Iraqi police pulled al-Zarqawi from the rubble and placed him on a stretcher.

When US troops arrived, Zarqawi was conscious enough to realize who they were an rolled off the stretcher in an effort to get away. "He mumbled something, but it was indistinguishable and it was very short," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for U.S.-led forces in Iraq, said Friday of the Jordanian-born terrorist's last words.

The US military took custody of al-Zarqawi, and he died in their custody, according to New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins. Caldwell said that Zarqawi attempted to sort of turn away off the stretcher. They — everybody — resecured him back onto the stretcher, but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he had received from the airstrike." Comment on this article at our Forum

The soldiers on the scene began providing medical care, but it was too late. Five other people in the house were killed instantly, according to Filkins. Zarqawi was covered in blood when police arrived, and Caldwell said that there was no evidence Zarqawi died from anything other than his wounds.

Filkins said that American commandos had surrounded the building before the F-16 dropped the two bombs. The killing of Mr. Zarqawi provided a boost to the morale of the Iraqis and Americans trying to a new democratic state here, which Mr. Zarqawi and his followers were working so hard to destroy.