Six-week hunt led to Zarqawi

WASHINGTON -- A methodical six-week manhunt aided by local tipsters, spy drones, and informers from his own terrorist network finally led to the demise of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, in US airstrikes Wednesday night, US officials said yesterday.

The 39-year-old Zarqawi, who had recruited hundreds of Arab militants to launch suicide attacks and became the public face of the insurgency that has rocked Iraq for three years, died when US special forces guided a pair of Air Force F-16s to the isolated safehouse near Baqubah, north of Baghdad, where he was meeting with his spiritual adviser. The adviser and four others, including an unidentified woman and child, were also killed.

President Bush said yesterday that the US military ``delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq."

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, he called Zarqawi's death a severe blow to Al Qaeda and said it provided ``renewed confidence" in ultimate victory in Iraq. But he cautioned that it would not end the bloodshed.

``The difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues," he added. ``We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him. We can expect the sectarian violence to continue."

Military officials said that US forces had been monitoring Zarqawi's movements for several days and were so sure he was in the house nestled in a palm grove that the pilots were given extra time to launch the mission. At 6:15 p.m. Baghdad time, in attacks captured on the jets' onboard cameras, the planes launched two 500-pound precision-guided bombs from several miles away so that Zarqawi would not be tipped off by the sound of jet engines overhead.

The decision was made to destroy the house, rather than launch a raid, out of fear that he might slip away.

``The success was the product of painstaking intelligence-gathering from local sources and from within Zarqawi's network," Army Major General William Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad after Zarqawi was identified by fingerprints, scars, and facial features. He credited ``the slow, deliberate exploitation of leads and opportunities."

A key piece of the puzzle was tracking Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi , who recently had entered Iraq to advise his former student, according to a senior US counter-terrorism official.

``It was quickly realized that the spiritual adviser could be pivotal in trying to pinpoint [Zarqawi's] whereabouts," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss intelligence matters. ``It was the product of very good detective work."

Military specialists said the operation indicated that US and Iraqi forces have made major progress in uncovering the movements of the network of Sunni Muslim militants who have sought to foment a civil war by attacking Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority. On at least one occasion last year, in May, Iraqi officials said Zarqawi narrowly escaped as US troops were closing in on him. At another point last year, US military officials said the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq might even have been detained and released from temporary custody before his identity was discovered.

The killing of Zarqawi already appeared to be paying off: in the hours after the air strikes, after computer discs and other information were recovered from the bombing site, US and Iraqi forces launched 17 raids across Iraq that officials said uncovered a ``treasure trove" of intelligence they hope will lead them to other members of Zarqawi's network.

The death of the Jordanian-born terrorist who in 2004 swore allegiance to Osama Bin Laden was widely hailed as a key victory against the insurgency in Iraq and a blow to Al Qaeda at large. Jubilant Iraqis took to the streets in celebration yesterday after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki , flanked by General George Casey, the top US commander, announced that ``Zarqawi was eliminated." Maliki later told Al-Arabiya television that the $25 million reward for information leading to his death or capture will be honored; he did not say who would receive it.

``The benefit is enormous for the Iraqi people," Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters returning with him to Washington from Brussels, where he was attending meetings at NATO headquarters.

``Here's a man who has killed literally thousands of people; innocent men, women and children. He has incited sectarian violence. He was a center of the financing network and of the operational network, and the link between the Iraqi operation and elements outside of Iraq. To replace that is not impossible but it takes time, it takes effort, it takes building of relationships," he said.

Anthony Cordesman, a specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Zarqawi's symbolic importance could not be overstated.

``There is no other figure in the insurgency that has captured Iraq and the world's attention" like Zarqawi, Cordesman said. ``Most other leaders are nearly faceless and many are unknown."

But analysts differed on the impact Zarqawi's death will have on the day-to-day operations of the insurgency. Some think it could mark a decisive defeat for insurgents trying to ignite a civil war between Sunnis and Shi'ites, while others said Zarqawi's influence had already weakened before his death and that others will follow in his footsteps and build on his accomplishments.

Richard Miniter , a research fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington who is writing a biography of Zarqawi, said Zarqawi's removal from the scene will provide a lift for the new Iraqi government -- and could bring down the number of attacks substantially.

``This is the biggest boost ever to Iraqi police morale," Miniter said. ``It should also mean that suicide bombings -- aside from the ones in the pipeline -- should decline very sharply. Ninety to 95 percent of the suicide attacks since 2003 are believed to be the work of the Zarqawi network."

Other intelligence analysts and private specialists stressed that while Zarqawi was still a highly symbolic figure, his central role in the insurgency had steadily waned over time as other terrorist operatives, loosely connected with Zarqawi's group, organized their own activities.

They maintained that the backbone of the Iraq insurgency remains former Iraqi security forces and loyalists of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. While Zarqawi's followers have been responsible for some of the most gruesome attacks -- such as videotaped beheadings, the destruction of the UN's headquarters in Iraq in 2003, and the bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in February -- the vast majority of insurgents remain Iraqis. And they show little sign of letting up.

Zarqawi's death ``makes no difference whatsoever," Nawaf Obaid , a security consultant to the government of Saudi Arabia who has tracked the Iraq insurgency, said via telephone from Riyadh.

``There have already been numerous other jihad commanders from North Africa and elsewhere who have developed their own networks, soldiers, and fund-raising activities. His role was really significant in the first year of the invasion, but has become more on the periphery."

For their part, followers of Zarqawi's brand of death and destruction said yesterday that they remain unbowed.

Al Qaeda in Iraq vowed to continue its ``holy war," according to a statement posted on a terrorist website. ``We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme."

Farah Stockman of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was included.