BAGHDAD, 27 May 2005 — The Iraqi government yesterday said reports that insurgent leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi has been injured were true. “Yes, it is true,” Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said when asked about a posting on a website that said Zarqawi had been wounded. The minister said he had received information five days ago that Zarqawi had been wounded, but would not say where the information came from. Yesterday, conflicting statements about the leadership of Al-Qaeda in Iraq appeared on the Internet.
A statement in the name of Al-Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq was posted on a website saying the group had appointed a deputy to fill in for Zarqawi, but a later statement purportedly from a group spokesman swiftly denied it.
Meanwhile, ministers said the government will pour tens of thousands of Iraqi troops into Baghdad in an unprecedented operation to seal off the city and hunt insurgents who have launched a fresh wave of violence. Defense Minister Sadoun Al-Dulaimi said 40,000 Iraqi troops would be deployed in Baghdad for Operation Thunder. Backed by the 10,000 US troops in Baghdad, they will set up hundreds of checkpoints and block roads into the capital.
— Additional input from Reuters
