cnn.com
Iraq is like the stock market--one day up, one day down. Hopefully zaquawis will die and the action in Bagdad will turn the tide at least in this city. Saw in another article today that shiaa were reaching out to sunni with US prodding on the constitution. I am hoping if not hopeful just yet.
Iraq official: Militant leader al-Zarqawi wounded
Ministers announce security crackdown in Baghdad
Thursday, May 26, 2005 Posted: 10:03 AM EDT (1403 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's interior minister said Thursday that the government has credible information insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been wounded.
"We are not quite sure if he is alive or dead," Interior Minister Baqir Jabbur said, adding the government received the report several days ago.
Al-Zarqawi, the most-wanted man in Iraq, is blamed for bombings and kidnappings throughout the country. The United States is offering a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture.
CNN's Jane Arraf asked Jabbur after the Baghdad news conference whether he believed al-Zarqawi had been wounded. "He said, 'Yes, it is true he has been wounded,' " Arraf said.
Several Islamist Web sites reported this week that al-Zarqawi had been wounded, asking supporters to offer prayers for the militant.
In an analysis of one posting, Octavia Nasr, CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs, said the author "doesn't go into the seriousness of the injuries."
"If indeed there is an injury, the injury is serious enough for the group to be inclined to announce it publicly so that in case of death, it won't be a total shock," Nasr said earlier this week.
The message "could be just a prelude to announcing something even more serious," she said. (Full story)
Last year al-Zarqawi pledged his allegiance to Osama bin Laden, who later praised the insurgent's work against American troops in Iraq.
A U.S. intelligence official advised caution about reports that al-Zarqawi may be seriously wounded or dead, noting that previous ones on his death or capture had been wrong.
In other developments related to al-Zarqawi, Iraqi soldiers and U.S.-led multinational forces on Tuesday detained Ali Agha Omar -- a secretary of the militant leader -- in Baquba, north of Baghdad, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said.
40,000 troops to patrol capital
At Thursday's briefing, Jabbur, the interior minister, and Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulami also announced a plan to bolster security in Baghdad and combat the insurgency.
More than 40,000 security personnel will be stationed in the capital of 6 million people.
"We will not allow murderers and terrorists and extremists to shed Iraqi blood," al-Dulami said. "We will stand up to them."
Beginning next week, Baghdad will be divided into quadrants for soldiers and police to patrol, the ministers said. Authorities will set up security cordons and checkpoints throughout the city, the officials said, adding that raids will be conducted when required.
Anti-insurgent operations also are planned for other cities in Iraq, which remains under a state of emergency except for the Kurdish region in the north.
Jabbur said mosques that harbor terrorists and weapons caches will be raided. Al-Dulami had issued a ban on such raids last week. |
