Zarqawi Dead? Lets hope its true

The Bush administration has confirmed that U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq are investigating the possibility that al Qaida terror chief Abu Musab al Zarqawi was killed Saturday afternoon in a gun battle near Mosul.

"Efforts are being made to determine who was killed and if Zarqawi was among them," a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said late Sunday.

The same official told United Press International that efforts to confirm Zarqawi's death were "not a response to media reports but rather to what coalition forces found on the ground," the wire service said.

Traveling with President Bush in Beijing, however, White House spokesman Trent Duffy cautioned that there was no hard evidence Zarqawi was among the dead, saying early reports in the Arab press were "not credible.

Eight insurgents, including a woman, were killed on Saturday in clashes between joint U.S.-Iraqi forces and gunmen occupying the Mosul safehouse, Iraqi police told Reuters. Four more insurgents were arrested.

If Zarqawi has indeed been killed, it would represent the biggest victory in the war on terror to date. The Jordanian-born terror kingpin is believed to have killed thousands in car bombings and suicide attacks, and has reportedly personally beheaded at least one American, Nicholas Berg.

Zarqawi has acknowledged responsibility for last week's terrorist attacks in Amman, Jordan, which killed 62 people.

Last year, U.S. officials upped the reward offered for his capture or death to $25 million - the same amount offered for Osama bin Laden.

** The US ambassador to Iraq had this to say:

"His days are numbered. He is going to be ultimately found," Zalmay Khalilzad said in an interview with CNN.

"Either he will be brought to justice or he will die in the battle to capture him but we are getting closer to that goal every day. A lot of coalition forces and experts are working hard on this," he said.

"It is not a question of whether but when."

Iraqi and US troops were continuing to hunt for the Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who has a 25 million dollar US bounty on his head, after commanders dismissed reports that he had been killed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

** Shame the head chopping savage could not have died a bit slower like the same way he killed his victims.

Being flushed down a sewer in Iraq any time now to join the other turds, cheerfull head chopper Zarqawi. God is our objective. The apostle is our leader. Quran is our law. Holy war is our way. Dying in the way of God is our highest hope. (** Blah blah blah - 72 virgin goats and all that assorted rubbish.)

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