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From the Seattle Times:
BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. forces sealed off a house in the northern city of Mosul where eight suspected al-Qaida members died in a gunfight — some by their own hands to possibly avoid capture. The White House said Sunday that it was "highly unlikely" that the terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was among the dead.Insurgents, meanwhile, killed a U.S. soldier and two Marines in attacks over the weekend, and a British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the south.
On Saturday, police Brig. Gen. Said Ahmed al-Jubouri said the raid was launched after a tip that top al-Qaida operatives, possibly including al-Zarqawi, were in the house. Al-Zarqawi heads the group calling itself al-Qaida in Iraq.
During the gunbattle that followed, three insurgents detonated explosives and killed themselves, Iraqi officials said. Eleven Americans were wounded, the U.S. military said. Such intense resistance often suggests an attempt to defend a high-value target. But Trent Duffy, a Bush spokesman, said reports of al-Zarqawi's death were "highly unlikely and not credible."...
Posted by Rebecca at November 21, 2005 6:47 AM
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Still no conclusion either way. Update:
Iraq checking reports Zarqawi may be deadPosted by: LisaMOSCOW (Reuters) - Iraq has no confirmation but is checking reports that Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have been killed during fighting in northern Iraq, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Monday.
Zebari said senior militants were present in a house in the city of Mosul when U.S. and Iraqi forces stormed it on Sunday, causing some of those inside to blow themselves up, but it could not yet be determined if Zarqawi was among those killed.
"We don't have confirmation," Zebari told Reuters during a visit to Moscow.
"In my view, I would say there must have been some key leaders of the insurgency, especially the fundamentalists -- al Qaeda type of people -- so I would not be surprised if he could be one of those who blew himself up," he said.
"We know that American and Iraqi forces ... surrounded a house where there was fierce resistance and when the American and Iraqi forces jointly tried to storm the building the occupants blew themselves up, they committed suicide," he said.
"They believe there must have been some key leaders from the terrorists, from the fundamentalists who committed suicide instead of handing themselves up."
Zebari said only DNA tests could confirm if Zarqawi was among those killed, and said checks were being made.
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at November 21, 2005 2:18 PM
Sorry, JW IT expert, here is the correct link to the news post:
Iraq checking reports Zarqawi may be dead
Posted by: Lisa at November 21, 2005 2:21 PM
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