US says it is hot on heels of Zarqawi

Iraq: The US military said yesterday it was hot on the heels of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, after …

Iraq: The US military said yesterday it was hot on the heels of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, after discovering documents and an unedited video of him in a hideout near Baghdad.

Zarqawi was throwing all his resources into attacks in Baghdad and was probably somewhere south of the capital where US forces recently launched a series of raids, US military spokesman Maj Gen Rick Lynch told reporters.

"We believe it is only a matter of time until Zarqawi is taken down. It's not if, but when," he said.

A roadside bomb killed nine people and wounded 46 near a Baghdad courthouse yesterday, as prime minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki met political groups on the formation of a unity government which Washington hopes will avert a sectarian civil war.

READ MORE

Dazed victims were taken to hospital, where they recalled hearing an explosion after entering the courthouse. One said: "I went inside. The explosion happened 15 minutes later. Some were saying that it was a suicide bomber with an explosives vest. Others were saying it was a bomb on a cart pulled by a horse."

Gen Lynch showed brief clips from what he said was an unedited copy of a video Zarqawi released last week, showing the al-Qaeda leader wearing US running shoes, struggling to handle a machine gun and handing the weapon to one of his aides, who appears to fumble with it as he grabs the gun's hot muzzle.

Gen Lynch mocked Zarqawi for wearing sneakers and suggested he was unable to fire a weapon.

- (Reuters)