Al-Zarqawi Wounded Islamic Website Claims

[Nickdfresh]

Iraq al-Qaida Leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi Injured, Internet Posting Attributed to al-Qaida Says
http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/BAG12405241544.jpeg
This is an undated file photo released in Amman, Jordan, Dec. 14, 2002, of Jordanian-born terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is considered one of the top al-Qaida lieutenants still at large. The militant group Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a statement published on an Internet Web site Tuesday that its leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is injured and called on Muslims to pray for his recovery. The statement's authenticity could not be verified, but it was posted on a Web site known for its militant content. (AP Photo/HO, Petra)

The Associated PressThe Associated Press

CAIRO, Egypt May 24, 2005 — Al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, blamed for numerous terror attacks on U.S. and Iraqi targets, said Tuesday in an Internet posting that its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been wounded and called on supporters to pray for his recovery.

The posting's authenticity could not be verified, but it was posted on a Web site known for carrying prior statements by al-Qaida in Iraq and other militant groups.

The statement, which purportedly was from the group's media coordinator, Abu Maysarah al-Iraqi, did not say how or when al-Zarqawi was injured. Al-Iraqi is known to be the group's media coordinator, but there was no way to confirm if the statement was true or that it was posted by al-Qaida in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, has claimed responsibility for attacks on Iraqi civilians and security forces, kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners, and has a $25 million bounty on his head the same as for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

"Let the near and far know that the injury of our leader is an honor, and a cause to close in on the enemies of God, and a reason to increase the attacks against them," the statement said.

Media reports earlier this month said the U.S. military was investigating whether al-Zarqawi was being treated at a Ramadi hospital.

The Washington Post reported May 5 that al-Qaida in Iraq had posted a statement at two mosques, including one in Ramadi, saying al-Zarqawi was at the hospital during the April 28 raid but escaped capture. Ramadi residents told The Associated Press at the time they had seen no such statements.

U.S. forces searched the hospital in central Iraq after receiving a tip from an informant about possible terrorist activities there related to al-Zarqawi, but no insurgents were found, the U.S. military said at the time.

www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=786291

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[BigBadBrian]

:gun:

[FORD]

How many times can you wound a fictional terrorist before you have to invent the next one?

I'll be the BCE computer composite sketch team is working on that right now......

[Seshmeister]

You know when I heard this on the news I wondered what if journalists went to VHForums to find out whether Hagar was better than Roth?

Since when did websites become a reliable news source?

Just because they are in fucking arabic?

Spin and counter spin.

The western media need bogeymen because the readers/viewers find it too difficult or disturbing to accept that 'Al Queda' is an idea not an organisation.

Much easier to kill some guy in a turban like Bin Laden than to kill an idea so we prefer that. It means we can just think soon our guys will kill their leaders and it will all go away...

[Nickdfresh]

Rumors Mount Over the Fate of Al-Zarqawi
Wednesday, May 25, 2005 4:45 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By JAMIE TARABAY

The Internet and Baghdad streets are teeming with statements about terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. One says he's being treated outside Iraq for gunshot wounds to the lung. Another calls on Muslims to pray for him, indicating his condition may be dire.

Only one thing is sure: none is confirmed.

The latest furor over al-Zarqawi began Tuesday when an Internet statement called on Muslims to pray for his life, followed by competing statements on his health and whereabouts.

The mystery deepened Wednesday after reports that two Arab doctors in another country were treating al-Zarqawi, chief of al-Qaida in Iraq and wanted for some of the deadliest attacks in the country.

None of the Internet postings and rumors have been confirmed, but the amount of speculation about the Jordanian-born militant is unusual both in size and scope.

"It makes me wonder if al-Zarqawi's injury is severe enough that they are afraid to lie about it, and are instead just trying to minimalize the impact," said Washington-based counterterrorism expert Evan Kohlmann. "In other words, they 'steal the thunder' from the Western media ... a crude form of defusing a potential public relations disaster."

It also could be a ploy to make al-Zarqawi more popular among Islamic zealots who follow him and his mentor, Osama bin Laden.

A return to the battlefield after being injured by U.S. forces could make al-Zarqawi look like "superman," Gen. Wafiq al-Samarie, the Iraqi presidential adviser for security affairs, speculated on Al-Jazeera TV.

The attention focused on his reputed injury indicates how crucial al-Zarqawi has become to Iraq's insurgency. He initially was regarded as a bin Laden rival until the al-Qaida leader anointed him his representative in Iraq last year.

Al-Zarqawi, who carries a $25 million bounty like bin Laden, is believed to have personally executed foreign hostages and has shown no compunction in killing Muslims who don't adhere to his hard-line interpretation of Islam. He also encourages bloody attacks against anyone deemed a U.S. collaborator.

Speculation over his condition heightened when an Internet statement said two Arab doctors in another country were treating him. After being posted on another Web site, it was denounced as being unauthorized and false.

The statement from someone identified only as al-Khalidi said the information came from "brothers close to the holy warriors in Iraq."

The spokesman for Iraq's largest Shiite political group said it had unconfirmed information that al-Zarqawi was dead.

"He was killed in western Iraq," said Haitham al-Husseini, an aide to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. "But we need more time to be able to confirm."

Hani el-Sibaie, who runs a London-based Islamic affairs research center, said calls to pray for al-Zarqawi meant he was seriously ill. "It is obvious that he is dying and his days are numbered," he said from London.

Recent U.S. and Iraqi raids on hospitals in Baghdad and Ramadi, west of the capital, have fueled the rumors.

Marine Col. Stephen Davis, who is commanding an anti-insurgent offensive in the western Iraqi city of Haditha, told CNN that if reports al-Zarqawi was wounded or possibly dead were true, "it probably will have some impact, although I suspect that impact may be shorter term."

Link (http://www.adelphia.net/news/read.php?id=11936648&ps=1012)



NPR (http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ME&showDate=25-May-2005&segNum=1&mediaPref=WM&getUnderwriting=1) had some interesting details this morning...

[lucky wilbury]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050526/D8AATJ900.html

Iraqi Government Says Al-Zarqawi Wounded


May 26, 10:13 AM (ET)

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHARA


BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's most lethal insurgent group appears to be facing a leadership crisis amid conflicting reports about the fate of its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and whether a Saudi militant has been named to stand in for him.

Iraq's interior and defense ministers said Thursday they have information that al-Zarqawi has been wounded - apparent confirmation of recent rumors that the Jordanian-born terrorist leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was injured. But the officials said they did not know how severe the injury might be.

Meanwhile, a host of sometimes-dueling statements posted by militants on Web sites made it clear there could be confusion within the group itself - or perhaps even a leadership struggle - over al-Zarqawi's status.

None of the statements could be independently verified, but many of them were posted on a Web site known as a clearinghouse for al-Zarqawi, thus increasing their chances of being credible.

The first Internet statement, on Tuesday, claimed that al-Zarqawi had been wounded and asked Muslims to pray for him.

A second, on Thursday, signed in the name of Abu Doujanah al-Tunisi of the media committee of al-Qaida in Iraq - an unfamiliar name from past statements - said an interim leader had been appointed to stand in for al-Zarqawi because of his injury.

The statement said the new leader would be Abu Hafs al-Gerni, "deputy of the holy warriors."

Then a third Web posting, later Thursday, disputed the claim that a deputy had been appointed. That statement was posted in the name of the person who usually handles the group's Web site claims, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi.

The authenticity of none of the statements could be verified.

But the back-and-forth on the same Web site, known as a clearinghouse of Islamic militant material, could be a sign of confusion or even political competition within al-Qaida of Iraq.

It follows speculation about al-Zarqawi that has been unusual in size and scope.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said during a news conference: "We are not sure whether he is dead or not but we are sure that he is injured."

Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi also said al-Zarqawi had been wounded. When asked how he knew, he said: "It is my job."

Al Hayat, a respected pan-Arab newspaper, reported Thursday that several candidates were jockeying to succeed al-Zarqawi, none of whom it identified as al-Gerni. But one candidate the paper did name was Abu Maysara al-Iraqi - the man who issued Thursday's denial that a deputy had been appointed.

Al Hayat quoted multiple unidentified sources, saying that sources in Jordan close to al-Zarqawi, including a former Iraqi officer, told the newspaper that Abu Maysara al-Iraqi and Abu al-Dardaa al-Iraqi, an al-Qaida operative in Baghdad, were two potential successors.

Thursday's first statement said al-Gerni "was known for carrying out the hardest operations, and our sheik would choose him and his group for the tough operations."

Middle East experts on Islamic militants told The Associated Press that al-Gerni is a Saudi who has been al-Zarqawi's military adviser and is the emir, or prince - as senior commanders are called - of the military committee of al-Qaida in Iraq.

The two experts spoke on condition they not be further identified.

An aide to Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, head of Iraq's largest political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said al-Gerni was a non-Iraqi and a key lieutenant to al-Zarqawi.

"We are not sure 100 percent that al-Zarqawi is dead, and we can't consider this step as a confirmation for his killing," said Haitham al-Hussaini, director of al-Hakim's office.

"According to our intelligence, this al-Gerni is well known to us as one of al-Zarqawi's top aides in Iraq who has an Arab nationality," al-Hussaini said without elaborating on which country al-Gerni came from.

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[FORD]

Originally posted by lucky wilbury

The statement said the new leader would be Abu Easter al-Bunni, "deputy of the non-existent holy warriors."

[Mishar_McLeud]

The hunt for the leaders is rediculous and for mass media. First it was Saddam, like if anything has improved since he was captured.