 America vowed last night to track down the man who has succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. As a post mortem examination on Zarqawi's body revealed that he died of massive internal injuries 52 minutes after US air strikes hit his hideout last Wednesday, the terror group named his replacement as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.
| I guess 52 minutes of agony is better than no agony... |
He had not been among those touted in the Arab press as a likely successor and it was not clear if he was an Iraqi or one of the many foreigners who had joined the group.
| Likely a foreigner, since his name means "the immigrant." I can't recall ever having heard of him, though every ninth Bad Guy is an Abu Hamza. The Independent sez he's Jordanian. Another product of Zarqa, maybe? |
President George W Bush responded to the announcement by saying: "I think the successor to Zarqawi is going to be on our list to bring to justice."
| Comes as a surprise, huh? |
Coalition forces have carried out 140 operations against al-Qaeda in the six days since Zarqawi's death. Maj Gen Bill Caldwell said yesterday that 32 insurgents had been killed and 178 captured. Most of the targets had been under surveillance before Zarqawi's death and the raids appeared to be an attempt to keep al-Qa'eda off balance following the loss of its leader.
| And perhaps an attempt to slice off as much of the head cheeses as possible before they're all gone to ground... |
Seven suspected terrorists were killed in Baquba, the same area where Zarqawi was killed, but two children were also feared dead when US troops called in combat aircraft to hit a house from which the terrorists had opened fire with a machinegun. The troops later discovered the bodies of two children, together with the al-Qaeda suspects and a large quantity of small arms and rockets. A six-month-old boy was among those killed, which a spokesman for the coalition described as "extremely unfortunate".
| This is where we're supposed to recoil in horror and conclude it's just not worth it... |
Gen Caldwell said that overall the raids had been "very successful" but added: "We know this is not going to end the insurgency. It will take the people of Iraq to make that decision with their Iraqi security forces." |