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U.S. Says Zarqawi Died from Blast Washington Post | Fred Barbash and Daniela Deane | June 12 2006 Military pathologists said today that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader killed last week in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq, died of massive internal injuries caused by the bombs dropped on his hideout and was neither beaten nor shot. Col. Steve Jones, an army pathologist, said at a news conference in Baghdad that medics attempted to treat Zarqawi after they arrived, clearing his airways, but that injuries from the June 7 blast to his lungs were not "survivable." Zarqawi was "treated better in death than he treated others in life," added Major Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the military spokesman who presided at today's news conference. He "did lapse in and out of consciousness" but his breathing was shallow and labored all the while, until it stopped, and his pulse deteriorated rapidly. Zarqawi lived for some 52 minutes after the strike, Jones said. [Al-Qaeda in Iraq said in a Web statement today that a militant named Abu Hamza al-Muhajer has been named as the group's new leader, according to news agency reports. [Zarqawi's apparent successor was not immediately known in intelligence circles and did not appear to be on any U.S. lists of wanted terrorists. The name al-Muhajer, which analysts said was certainly a pseudonym, is Arabic for "immigrant," suggesting the new leader might not be an Iraqi. [In the statement posted on an Islamic militant Web forum, the group described al-Muhajer as a "beloved brother with jihadi (holy war) experience and a strong footing in knowledge."] President Bush, following a meeting with Cabinet members and security advisers at Camp David, was asked about the al-Qaeda announcement. said: The successor to Zarqawi is going to be on our list to bring to justice," he said. Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, Abdel Rahman, who was killed in the same blast, was dead when ground forces arrived from multiple internal and external injuries, Jones said. Officials said he appeared to have been thrown against a wall by the force of the explosions caused by the two 500-pound bombs. The unusually detailed and graphic autopsy reports followed unsubstantiated suggestions from an Iraqi at the scene that Zarqawi might have been beaten. Jones said that while Zarqawi had numerous external lacerations caused by the blast, his fatal injuries were caused by shockwaves from the explosions that severely damaged his lungs. In other developments today, U.S. -led forces raided what they described as an al-Qaeda linked terrorist hideout near Baqubah, killing seven, wounding three and detaining two others after a firefight, officials announced this morning. Two children were killed during the exchange as well, the military said in a press release. The attack followed the U.S. air strike in the same area last week that resulted in the death of Zarqawi. At the time, commanders said that raids on 17 other locations around Baghdad produced a "treasure trove" of intelligence about other insurgent operations. In a press release this morning, the military did not say explicitly whether the attacks today came as a result of that new intelligence. But, said the release, "the targeted terrorists have been linked to previous coalition operations and had ties to senior al-Qaeda leaders across Iraq. Intelligence also indicates this particular terrorist cell is involved in the facilitation of foreign fighters in the area," the military said. The statement said that coalition troops received enemy machine gun fire from a rooftop as they arrived and called in aircraft to suppress the fire, resulting in the seven deaths. "There were numerous women and children on the scene," the statement said. "Coalition Forces safeguarded those who fled the engagement area" but following the assault, they discovered that two children had been killed. Also Monday, a roadside bomb killed at least 10 people and wounded another 25 in a market in western Baghdad, news agencies reported. The blast took place in the upscale Mansour district of the Iraqi capital. Earlier, a car bomb also ripped through a market in Baghdad's eastern Sadr City district, killing five people and injuring 19 others. ---------------------------------------------------
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