Most attacks by Zarqawi group

2006-04-10 20:26

Baghdad - More than 90% of the suicide attacks in Iraq are carried out by terrorists and foreign fighters recruited, trained and equipped by al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a United States military spokesperson said on Monday.

US Major-General Rick Lynch said al-Zarqawi and al-Qaeda in Iraq "are real threats to the citizens, security and stability of Iraq and we continue to conduct aggressive operations to eliminate the threat they pose not only to Iraq, but also to the rest of the region".

On Monday, the US newspaper The Washington Post reported that the US military was conducting a propaganda campaign to "magnify the role" of al-Zarqawi to turn Iraqis against him and to link the war in Iraq to the attacks of September 11 2001.

The newspaper said some US military intelligence officials believe the campaign has overstated al-Zarqawi's importance within the Iraqi insurgency.

Referring to a "recent article", Lynch said: "Nothing could be further from the truth.

'Focus makes him more important'

"The terrorists and foreign fighters he recruits, trains and equips carry out more than 90% of the insidious suicide attacks against the men, women and children of Iraq, attacks that have killed or injured thousands of Iraqis in the last year alone."

The Post quoted US Colonel Derek Harvey, who served as a military intelligence officer in Iraq, as telling an US army meeting that al-Zarqawi and other foreign fighters had conducted deadly bombing attacks but remain "a very small part of the actual numbers".

The Post quoted Harvey: "Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will, made him more important than he really is, in some ways.

"The long-term threat is not Zarqawi or religious extremists, but these former regime types and their friends."

Lynch acknowledged al-Qaeda in Iraq represents a "relatively small portion" of the insurgency, but "their impact has been ruthlessly devastating".

- AP