BEIRUT: Al Qaeda’s top leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been badly wounded and his lieutenants are engaged in a power struggle over who would replace him if he dies, according to a senior Iraqi security official. The two top contenders to succeed the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi are Iraqis who served as military officers in Saddam Hussein’s regime, said the official, who asked not to be named. If one of these men ascended to the leadership of Al Qaeda in Iraq, it would illustrate that the different strands of the Iraqi insurgency are melding together.
For months, some Iraqi security officials have argued that the insurgency is being driven more by former Baathists and members of Saddam’s security services than by foreign Islamic terrorists such as Zarqawi. The Iraqi assessment contradicts that of many US officials, who have focused heavily on Zarqawi activities. For the first time on Thursday, top Iraqi officials confirmed that Zarqawi had been wounded. “We are not sure whether he is dead or not, but we are sure that he is injured,” Interior Minister Bayan Jabr told reporters in Baghdad. Jabr and Defence Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi would not say where, when and how seriously the militant had been wounded. But the security official said Zarqawi sustained “severe injuries” during a recent US offensive near the Iraqi-Syrian border.
The official said Zarqawi was likely a main target of the US attack, dubbed Operation Matador, which lasted from May 8-15 and focused on a mainly Sunni region around Qaim. On Tuesday, a Website known as a clearinghouse for Islamic militants posted a statement saying Zarqawi had been wounded and urging Muslims to pray for his recovery.
“That Internet statement was a first step toward announcing his eventual death,” said the Iraqi official. Already, several of Zarqawi’s deputies are jockeying to replace him, according to the official and reports in the Arabic press. —Dawn/LAT-WP News Service
