Top Zarqawi aide killed in Iraq
2005-08-15 12:39
Washington - A top aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of the al-Qaeda operation in Iraq, who has played a key role in masterminding several high-profile suicide bombings in the country, has been killed by Iraqi security forces, confirm defence officials on Sunday.
But, the battlefield success hardly impressed two leading United States senators, who questioned the Pentagon's handling of the situation in Iraq and said they had no more confidence in defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The officials said Abu Zubair, also known as Mohammed Salah Sultan, was gunned down in Mosul on Friday, when he got caught in an ambush set up by Iraqi security forces.
No other details of the operation were provided. But, officials said Abu Zubair was wearing a suicide belt filled with metal pellets when he was killed.
Organising a bombing attack
It was not immediately clear whether the suspect intended to become a suicide bomber himself or the belt was to be used by somebody else.
According to the defence officials, Abu Zubair was wanted for his alleged role in organising a bombing attack on an Iraqi police station in Mosul last month, where five policemen were killed.
He was believed to be behind several other bombings directed against US forces and their allies, but the officials offered no specifics.
They noted, however, that Abu Zubair's death followed the capture of three bomb makers and six foreign fighters by US and Iraqi security forces last week as well as the successful neutralisation of 101 improvised explosive devices.
Efforts to disrupt terrorists
A spokesperson for the multinational force deployed in Iraq, colonel Bill Buckner, said: "Abu Zubair's death, as well as recent captures of terrorists in northern Iraq, is making a difference in coalition and Iraqi security forces efforts to disrupt terrorists operating in this part of the country."
He expressed confidence that bombings and other insurgent attacks "will not prevent Iraqi democracy".
But, Joseph Biden, the leading democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, said democracy in Iraq "will not happen in my lifetime".
Biden said: "I think Rumsfeld should get his notice on Monday morning."
Republican senator John McCain, a possible presidential candidate in 2008, also said "I don't have confidence" in Rumsfeld.