Coalition forces are investigating claims Zarqawi may have been detained in the raid in the Jazerra region
The death or capture of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda’s commander in Iraq who is affectionately called the “Sheikh of Slaughters” by his admirers, would be a tremendous psychological victory to the Iraqi people and the American public. The Kuwait News Agency is reporting that Multinational Forces – Iraq is investigating claims that Zarqawi may have been detained during the raid on the Jazerra region, which sits north of Ramadi and Fallujah. According to KUNA, “A MNF officer did not confirm or deny the arrest, noting that the US forces are still investigating the reports… Meanwhile, sources in the Iraqi Army said that Al-Zarqawi could be among those arrested in the operation on Monday.”
Enthusiasm should be muted at this time as we have been down this path several times. It has been believed Zarqawi has been close to death or capture on several occasions, including February of 2005, when he was almost captured in Fallujah (his laptop was seized and driver captured during the raid); April of 2005, when he was thought to be cornered in Ramadi; May of 2005, when Zarqawi evaded capture and was wounded in the Qaim region, and later thought dead; November of 2005, when he was believed to be in Mosul during a raid on a al Qaeda safe house; and February of 2006 when reports indicated Zarqawi may be in the Hamrin region of north-central Iraq [located between Tikrit and Kirkuk].
Zarqawi is being sought by the hunter-killer teams of Task Force 626. This is an elite team of professionals, likely made up of elements from the Navy SEALs, Delta Force, Defense Intelligence Agency, NSA, and CIA. Multinational Forces – Iraq is very sensitive about the operations and whereabouts of this group. During my time in Iraq, questions about Task Force 626, their mission and any cooperation with conventional forces went unanswered, or the answers were so vague as to be meaningless.
23 Comments
I can’t believe there are no comments….this is major news if it pans out.
We can always hope.
WoW.
Trying to contain myself. He’s been “captured” so many times before.
Off-hand, I would guess that suppression of news of his capture, in an offical confirmation sense, would be of use, at most, for about a week. After that, his “disappearance” would be confirmed throughout the network and keeping him under wraps beyond it’s immediate usefulness.
Bill, what is the source for the image and what is it? I’ve not seem it before.
This is the first I have heard of this. Please let it be so!
I am headed back to Iraq next week and hope this has happened.
Searching the email address listed on the image most of the pages that contained the email addu soswrite have been deleted. ?
http://www.joyjunction.net/bulletin/modules.php?name=News&file=showarticle&t=955&op=snipoff
Some news from the email addy on the image.
Dusty,
I found it on Google Images.
Here is the source link.
Reuters was reporting this on the 27th
NAHRAWAN – Interior Ministry police commandos killed five suspected Sunni insurgents and captured 25 in an evening battle near Nakhrawan just southeast of Baghdad
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM721025.htm
JihadUnhinged had a blurb about that being an AlQueda battle.
On the 23rd Gen Lynch Briefed a thumb drive had been captured.
On the 24th the Northern Baghdad emir was killed
On the 27th a cell in Southest Baghdad was killed/captured as well as well as these 61 terrorists being captured in AlAnbar
On the 2nd a safe house in Hubbaniya was raided.
In addition to above comment by Soldier’s Dad, there seems to have been a large hit rate this past week.
I was just commenting at work that an aweful lot of Terror Turds have taken the long dirt nap or been captured this week. 61 in Jazerra, key leaders in Bangladesh, more in Saudi Arabia, some in Jordan, and army raids in Wazirsitan.
Someone is squealing!!!
I thought I read a story somewhere that claimed Zarqawi wears a suicide belt 24/7 and would kill himself rather than surrender. Maybe he chickened out but knowing these people they seem very willing to kill themselves. I’ll believe this story when I see him in handcuffs
“I believe this to be a headquarters unit. Way too many ranked players. Way too far away from the active operational zone.
For AQ-I this debacle is like losing a brigade.
Keep an eye on this story. It’ll turn out to have been a backbreaker in this operational area.
blert | 03.03.06 – 2:43 pm | # (Soldier’s Dad)”
“I thought I read a story somewhere that claimed Zarqawi wears a suicide belt 24/7 and would kill himself rather than surrender”
The only ones that blow themselves up are stoned out of their minds.
Probably with all the recent terrorist operational activity, the increased movement/communications allowed our side increased chances of capture/kill scenarios.
Do you suppose the concern over ‘something big’ about to be unleashed by AQ Iraq is coming from the people, documents or computer data recently captured in the above-mentioned flurry of successful anti-terror actions?
Glenmore,
IMHO, there are there are 3 major forces in Iraq.
Saddamists, Anti-occupation forces, and terrorists. Last time I checked, and it changes daily, the ISF now controls some 14,000+ square miles, and it is accelerating. That seriously diminishishes “anti-occupation” sentiment.
So exploiting “anti-occupation” sentiment…becomes a losing cause.
The only thing that is left…is exploiting “sectarian tensions”. At some point in the next few days/weeks/months…a Unity Government will be announced.
Whats left for AlQueda to exploit.
They have to go for broke now. The Something Big is a logical deduction. If they don’t push Iraq to Civil War in the next few weeks. Game Over.
Once the “Unity” government is formed, AlQueda becomes a “Deer in Headlights”.
“MORE bad news is just coming out of Iraq..
Hammorabi has already reported on it..
apparently 100 bodies of shia Men women and children were found dead with some of them with their heads cut of just south of baghdad.. the bodies have been taken to Karbala.”
http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/
Yes, and the violence south of Baghdad will go on for a while if they don’t get some reinforcements into the area.
Bush needs to get those rifle brigades that he has been holding back on to the area South of Baghdad before this gets out of hand. They need to go set up roadblocks and start suppressing the AQ activity in the area. We will loose some soldiers, but they do risk a civil war if they let this go on.
I understand the politics in Washington. But damn, this fiddling around with minimum troop levels just gets more people killed in the long run. If they are going to do it than at least try to do it right.
If this is true, it could very well have some positive psychological affects.
All fingers crossed.
Another Zarqawi Capture Rumor
Normally I don’t post these because they are, well, rather unsubstantiated – but something about this report strikes true with me – from Kuwait News Agency: BAGHDAD, March 3 (KUNA) — The Multi-National Force (MNF) on Friday announced it is…
This is great news. Looks like we may have turned the corner. Without Zarqawi around, it’s hard to see how long the insurgency can last.
Interesting intel, Thanks again Bill and Task Force 626.
any updates on this yet?
I hope the delay is because they are waiting for the DNA identification tests to come back.
Just for follow up. Last week I posted
“Hammorabi has already reported on it..
apparently 100 bodies of shia Men women and children were found dead with some of them with their heads cut of just south of baghdad.. the bodies have been taken to Karbala.””