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Al-Zarqawi successor reportedly named
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/12/iraq.main/index.html
Monday, June 12, 2006; Posted: 11:59 a.m. EDT (15:59 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Al Qaeda in Iraq has named a successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader killed in a U.S. airstrike last week north of Baghdad, Islamist Web sites said Monday.
The sites identified the militant group's new leader as Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, which means "the immigrant," indicating that he -- like Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi -- is not Iraqi.
CNN has not been able to confirm the claim's authenticity.
"The word of the Shura Council of the Qaeda organization in the land of the two rivers was united on electing Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer to be the successor to the Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. God bless his soul on commanding the organization," one Web site said.
Al-Zarqawi died of blast injuries less than an hour after the U.S. strike Wednesday on a house near Baquba, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said Monday. (Full story)
He was positively identified through DNA testing, the military said. (Watch U.S. officials describe al-Zarqawi's death -- 2:49 )
Also in a Web posting, al Qaeda in Iraq on Sunday threatened "large-scale operations that will shake the enemy and rob them of sleep." Iraqi and U.S. officials, however, dismissed the threats as "empty" and "expected" in the wake of al-Zarqawi's death. (Full story)
U.S: 32 'anti-Iraqi elements' killed
The U.S. military also announced Monday that 32 "anti-Iraqi elements" had been killed in the past 48 hours, as coalition forces carried out 140 operations at the company level or above.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for Multi-National Forces-Iraq, told reporters 11 of the operations were based on information taken from the site where al-Zarqawi died.
Caldwell said a "high-value individual" with a $50,000 reward on his head was captured.
In a raid Monday morning near Baquba, two boys -- one about six months of age and the other about four years of age -- were killed as "coalition forces were prosecuting a target," Caldwell said. He called the deaths "an extremely unfortunate situation."
An 8-year-old boy suffered a non-life-threatening wound to the heel, he added.
A U.S. military statement said seven terrorists were killed in the raid.
"The targeted terrorists ... had ties to senior al Qaeda leaders across Iraq, the military said. "Intelligence also indicates this particular terrorist cell is involved in the facilitation of foreign fighters in the area."
At least 13 dead in violence
Elsewhere in Iraq on Monday, attacks left at least 13 people dead and 66 injured.
In southern Baghdad's Dora district, a roadside bomb destroyed a minibus carrying oil ministry workers, killing six of them and wounding 12 others, a Baghdad police official said.
Also in the capital, three people were killed and 10 others wounded when four mortar rounds landed in a residential area of the Abudchair neighborhood, said a Baghdad emergency police official.
In the northwestern city of Tal Afar near the Syrian border, a car bomb exploded at a fuel station, killing four people and wounding 42 others, Iraqi police said.
In other violence Monday, two teachers were seriously wounded when gunmen attacked their car in the Shiite neighborhood of Shulla on Baghdad's northwestern outskirts, Iraqi police said.
Other developments
President Bush will discuss the situation in Iraq on Monday with members of his Cabinet and national security team, including Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military official in Iraq, at Maryland's Camp David.
Testimony in Saddam Hussein's trial came to a halt Monday when the chief judge ordered the half brother of the ousted Iraqi leader removed from the courtroom, prompting outbursts from defense attorneys. The lawyers accused guards of manhandling defendant Barzan Hassan, who was also Hussein's former intelligence chief. (Full story)
Iraq's national security adviser predicted Sunday that the majority of the U.S.-led multinational forces most likely will have left Iraq by mid-2008, and a gradual reduction in forces will begin at the end of this year. (Full story)
A newspaper reported Sunday that the thousands of pounds of armor added to military Humvees, intended to protect U.S. troops, have made the vehicles more likely to roll over, killing and injuring soldiers in Iraq. (Full story)
The senior Marine sergeant in charge during U.S. operations in Haditha, Iraq, in November denies a massacre of civilians, as some reports have alleged, and maintains there was no wrongdoing on the Marines' part, his attorney said. (Full story)
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/12/iraq.main/index.html
Monday, June 12, 2006; Posted: 11:59 a.m. EDT (15:59 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Al Qaeda in Iraq has named a successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader killed in a U.S. airstrike last week north of Baghdad, Islamist Web sites said Monday.
The sites identified the militant group's new leader as Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, which means "the immigrant," indicating that he -- like Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi -- is not Iraqi.
CNN has not been able to confirm the claim's authenticity.
"The word of the Shura Council of the Qaeda organization in the land of the two rivers was united on electing Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer to be the successor to the Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. God bless his soul on commanding the organization," one Web site said.
Al-Zarqawi died of blast injuries less than an hour after the U.S. strike Wednesday on a house near Baquba, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said Monday. (Full story)
He was positively identified through DNA testing, the military said. (Watch U.S. officials describe al-Zarqawi's death -- 2:49 )
Also in a Web posting, al Qaeda in Iraq on Sunday threatened "large-scale operations that will shake the enemy and rob them of sleep." Iraqi and U.S. officials, however, dismissed the threats as "empty" and "expected" in the wake of al-Zarqawi's death. (Full story)
U.S: 32 'anti-Iraqi elements' killed
The U.S. military also announced Monday that 32 "anti-Iraqi elements" had been killed in the past 48 hours, as coalition forces carried out 140 operations at the company level or above.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for Multi-National Forces-Iraq, told reporters 11 of the operations were based on information taken from the site where al-Zarqawi died.
Caldwell said a "high-value individual" with a $50,000 reward on his head was captured.
In a raid Monday morning near Baquba, two boys -- one about six months of age and the other about four years of age -- were killed as "coalition forces were prosecuting a target," Caldwell said. He called the deaths "an extremely unfortunate situation."
An 8-year-old boy suffered a non-life-threatening wound to the heel, he added.
A U.S. military statement said seven terrorists were killed in the raid.
"The targeted terrorists ... had ties to senior al Qaeda leaders across Iraq, the military said. "Intelligence also indicates this particular terrorist cell is involved in the facilitation of foreign fighters in the area."
At least 13 dead in violence
Elsewhere in Iraq on Monday, attacks left at least 13 people dead and 66 injured.
In southern Baghdad's Dora district, a roadside bomb destroyed a minibus carrying oil ministry workers, killing six of them and wounding 12 others, a Baghdad police official said.
Also in the capital, three people were killed and 10 others wounded when four mortar rounds landed in a residential area of the Abudchair neighborhood, said a Baghdad emergency police official.
In the northwestern city of Tal Afar near the Syrian border, a car bomb exploded at a fuel station, killing four people and wounding 42 others, Iraqi police said.
In other violence Monday, two teachers were seriously wounded when gunmen attacked their car in the Shiite neighborhood of Shulla on Baghdad's northwestern outskirts, Iraqi police said.
Other developments
President Bush will discuss the situation in Iraq on Monday with members of his Cabinet and national security team, including Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military official in Iraq, at Maryland's Camp David.
Testimony in Saddam Hussein's trial came to a halt Monday when the chief judge ordered the half brother of the ousted Iraqi leader removed from the courtroom, prompting outbursts from defense attorneys. The lawyers accused guards of manhandling defendant Barzan Hassan, who was also Hussein's former intelligence chief. (Full story)
Iraq's national security adviser predicted Sunday that the majority of the U.S.-led multinational forces most likely will have left Iraq by mid-2008, and a gradual reduction in forces will begin at the end of this year. (Full story)
A newspaper reported Sunday that the thousands of pounds of armor added to military Humvees, intended to protect U.S. troops, have made the vehicles more likely to roll over, killing and injuring soldiers in Iraq. (Full story)
The senior Marine sergeant in charge during U.S. operations in Haditha, Iraq, in November denies a massacre of civilians, as some reports have alleged, and maintains there was no wrongdoing on the Marines' part, his attorney said. (Full story)
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
