BAGHDAD, 16 June 2006 — US and Iraqi forces killed 104 insurgents in hundreds of raids since last week’s killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, and the American death toll in the war in Iraq hit 2,500, the US military said yesterday.
Even as the Iraqi government released a document found in Zarqawi’s hide-out that appeared to show the insurgency was weakening, new violence erupted. Gunmen shot and killed 10 Shiites in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad.
Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, meanwhile, pressed forward with his initiative to crack down on violence in Baghdad, but he postponed a news conference at which he was expected to unveil details of a new initiative to promote national reconciliation.
US officials also identified the man claiming to have succeeded Zarqawi as head of the Al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist group as Abu Ayyub Al-Masri, an Egyptian with ties to Al-Qaeda. US military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said Zarqawi’s successor apparently is the same person as a man identified by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza Al-Muhajer who has claimed to have succeeded Zarqawi and vowed to avenge him in threatening Web statements in recent days.
The Afghanistan-trained Masri, an explosives expert, was a key figure in the Al-Qaeda in Iraq network and was long responsible for facilitating the movement of foreign fighters from Syria into Baghdad, Caldwell said at a news conference. Masri has been a terrorist since 1982, “beginning with his involvement in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad,” which was led by Osama Bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Caldwell said.
American and Iraqi forces have carried out 452 raids since the June 7 killing of Zarqawi, and 104 insurgents were killed in those actions, Caldwell added.
The nationwide raids led to the discovery of 28 significant arms caches, Caldwell said. He said 255 of the raids were joint operations, while 143 were carried out by Iraqi forces alone. The raids also resulted in the captures of 759 “anti-Iraqi elements.”
The Pentagon’s announcement that 2,500 US troops had died since the war in Iraq began more than three years ago did not include any details on when the grim milestone was reached.
According to the Pentagon totals, 1,972 service members have been killed in action in Iraq, and another 528 died from other non-hostile causes. There also have been 18,490 soldiers wounded in action, including 8,501 who did not return to duty.
Authorities said a document found in Zarqawi’s hide-out that includes a blueprint for trying to foment a war between the United States and Iran and also appears to show that the insurgency in Iraq is weakening.
The document said the insurgency was being hurt by the US military’s program to train Iraqi security forces, by massive arrests and seizures of weapons, by tightening the militants’ financial outlets, and by creating divisions within its ranks.
“Generally speaking and despite the gloomy present situation, we find that the best solution in order to get out of this crisis is to involve the US forces in waging a war against another country or any hostile groups,” the document said.
