Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
BAGHDAD, Nov 23 (AFP) - US forces are closing in on top Al-Qaeda in Iraq
insurgent Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and expects to capture or kill him "in the
not too distant future", a US general said Wednesday.
"We come close to Zarqawi continuously and at one point in time, in the not
too distant future, we are going to get Zarqawi," Major General Rick Lynch,
spokesman for the US-led multinational force in Iraq told reporters.
Lynch said a series of joint coalition-Iraqi operations in the western
province of Al-Anbar had severely affected the Jordanian-born militant's
activities, particularly by capturing and killing key lieutenants.
"As a result of the degradation of his leadership, he personally now has to
be more active -- he has to move more," he said, adding that it was only a
matter of time before they got him.
Starting on 28 September, US and Iraqi forces targeted a number of towns and
suspected militant strongholds in the Euphrates River valley, saying it
killed 700 insurgents and captured 1,500 others.
Media reports speculated that Zarqawi might have been among a group of
insurgents killed in a shoot-out in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday.
Authorities subsequently dismissed the reports.
Zarqawi, who is behind some of the bloodiest attacks and kidnappings in
Iraq, also claimed this month's deadly hotel bombings in Jordan that killed
60 people.
Follower of an extreme form of Sunni Islam, the Al-Qaeda frontman with a
25-million-dollar US bounty on his head has called for "all-out war" against
Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority.
"Taking out Zarqawi will have a significant impact on these acts of
violence," Lynch said.
insurgent Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and expects to capture or kill him "in the
not too distant future", a US general said Wednesday.
"We come close to Zarqawi continuously and at one point in time, in the not
too distant future, we are going to get Zarqawi," Major General Rick Lynch,
spokesman for the US-led multinational force in Iraq told reporters.
Lynch said a series of joint coalition-Iraqi operations in the western
province of Al-Anbar had severely affected the Jordanian-born militant's
activities, particularly by capturing and killing key lieutenants.
"As a result of the degradation of his leadership, he personally now has to
be more active -- he has to move more," he said, adding that it was only a
matter of time before they got him.
Starting on 28 September, US and Iraqi forces targeted a number of towns and
suspected militant strongholds in the Euphrates River valley, saying it
killed 700 insurgents and captured 1,500 others.
Media reports speculated that Zarqawi might have been among a group of
insurgents killed in a shoot-out in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday.
Authorities subsequently dismissed the reports.
Zarqawi, who is behind some of the bloodiest attacks and kidnappings in
Iraq, also claimed this month's deadly hotel bombings in Jordan that killed
60 people.
Follower of an extreme form of Sunni Islam, the Al-Qaeda frontman with a
25-million-dollar US bounty on his head has called for "all-out war" against
Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority.
"Taking out Zarqawi will have a significant impact on these acts of
violence," Lynch said.