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Zarqawi 'survived initial strike' Militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still
alive when Iraqi police got to the scene of the air strikes that targeted
him, the US military says. US planes dropped two 500lb (230kg) bombs on Zarqawi's safe house near the city of Baquba on Wednesday. After US troops arrived, Zarqawi tried to move off the stretcher where he had been placed, Gen Caldwell said. "Everybody re-secured him back onto the stretcher, but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he had received from this air strike," he said. US military officials had earlier said Zarqawi had not survived the strike, which they said came after tip-offs from his organisation.
Thousands of worshippers go to mosques for Friday prayers and have often been targeted by bombers linked to Zarqawi. In fresh comments on the death, President George W Bush said it was a "major blow" to al-Qaeda, but it was not going to end the war. "It's certainly not going to end the violence, but it's going to help a lot," Mr Bush said. Momentum News of Zarqawi's death has given a massive boost to the Iraqi government and the Bush administration, correspondents say. The Iraqi prime minister has promised to build on the momentum gained from the death to deliver security. Nouri Maliki said he wanted to launch a drive to "secure" Baghdad and confront "ethnic cleansing" around the city, in an article in the UK's Times newspaper. Giving the first details of the discovery of Zarqawi alive, Gen Caldwell told reporters the militant leader had "mumbled something indistinguishable and... very short" before he died. When US troops got there, they had made an identification of Zarqawi by distinguishing marks on his body and "some kind of visual, facial recognition", he said. "We do not know" why he had survived the initial strike, he said. There was nothing in the report to indicate Zarqawi had been shot, Gen Caldwell said. He said some "analysis of his body" had been done and DNA results were expected in coming days. Zarqawi was one of six people killed in the raid, including two other men and three women, he added - contrasting with earlier statements that a child had died. The US military says the operation against Zarqawi has given them a "treasure trove" of new information. The militant leader was known for his particularly gruesome tactics, including videotaped beheadings of hostages and synchronised bomb attacks on civilians. Fresh attacks Unrest has continued in Iraq with several attacks targeting workers and installations used by the oil industry:
"We consider this a great delight to the people because right must prevail," said one man. "Thanks are due to God for ending our ordeal." But a statement on an Islamist website, purportedly from al-Qaeda, said: "The death of our leaders ... only makes us more determined to continue the jihad." US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has dismissed as "utter nonsense" fears that Zarqawi's death will lead directly to more violence. "These things tend to get planned well in advance," he said. ---------------------------------------------------
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