Zarqawi died from blast injuries
2006-06-12 14:41
Baghdad - A US military doctor said on Monday that al-Qaeda terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi died 52 minutes after an air strike against his safe house north-east of Baghdad, and that a post-mortem showed his injuries were consistent with those caused by a bomb blast.
Colonel Steve Jones, command surgeon for multinational forces said al-Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, Sheik Abdul-Rahman, was killed instantly.
He added that an FBI test positively identified al-Zarqawi.
Major General William Caldwell said US forces arrived about 28 minutes after the air strike and treated al-Zarqawi, who was breathing with difficulty.
Jones and a medical examiner who was not identified said al-Zarqawi had "no evidence of beating or any firearm injuries".
Massive internal injuries
He said the first bomb was dropped by an F-16 at 18:12 and that US troops arrived at 18:40, but found Iraqi police at the site.
A US military medic provided care at the scene and his "pulse was such that he was not going to live. It was very evident that he had extremely massive internal injuries," Caldwell said.
"At 19:04 on 7 June, Zarqawi was dead," Caldwell said.
Remains
He added that no decision had been made on the remains of al-Zarqawi and his lieutenant.
"Right now we're still in discussions with the government of Iraq. They're still currently under coalition control," Caldwell said.
Caldwell said that two women and a young girl killed at the scene were turned over to Iraqi authorities as had the body of another man. None had been identified.
No explosives vest
According to Caldwell, al-Zarqawi was not wearing an explosives vest. The Jordanian-born al-Qaeda leader often claimed he wore one to prevent capture by American troops.
"He was wearing some black outfit. There is nothing that said he was wearing a suicide belt on," Caldwell said.
Timeline
He added that a timeline of events he had promised was not yet ready but would be in the next few days.
Because of the confusion over the sequence of events following the bombing, the military has promised to release a chronology.
Response time
At least one US officer said American troops responded quickly, while a senior Iraqi official said on Sunday that they may have arrived as much as an hour after the attack.
"After the national Iraqi police arrived to the scene and got the injured, got the dead sorted out. In an hour or so, I think, coalition forces have arrived to the scene also to help in the logistics of the operation afterward," Iraqi national security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told CNN.
Al-Rubaie said troops combing though the debris found al-Zarqawi's diaries, telephone numbers, computers and a database in one computer.
Caldwell, the US military spokesperson in Baghdad, has said that troops discovered a "treasure trove" and that 56 raids had been carried out since al-Zarqawi was killed.
- AP