Abū Musʿab az-Zarqāwī

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Abū Musʿab az-Zarqāwī ( Arabic أبو مصعب الزرقاوي, DMG Abū Muṣʿab az-Zarqāwī , a native of Ahmad Nazzāl al-Chalaila or Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh ( Arabic أحمد فضيل النزال الخلايلة, DMG 'Aḥmad Faḍīl an-Nazāl al-Ḫalāyla ), born October 30, 1966 in Zarqa , Jordan ; † June 7, 2006 near Hibhib near Baquba , Iraq ) was an Islamic fundamentalist and member of the terrorist organization al-Qaida in Iraq . He was blamed for numerous attacks and many deaths and was wanted by Interpol worldwide as a so-called top terrorist until his death with a bounty of 25 million US dollars . In contrast to Osama bin Laden , who sought reconciliation with the Shiites in the fight against the West , Zarqawi was considered an extreme opponent of the Shiite direction of Islam. Zarqawi was a Jordanian citizen. Sajida al-Rishawi is said to have been his sister.

Further transliterations that are used in the German-speaking area are al-Sarkawi , al-Zarkawi , al-Zarqawi , al-Zargawi , Abu Mussab Al Sarkaui . The terrorist had several pseudonyms , including those known to date: Ahmad Fadil al-Chalaila , Abu Ahmad , Abu Muhammad , Sakr Abu Suwaid .

The dead terrorist Zarqawi 2006

Life

Childhood and youth

Zarqawi's real name was Ahmad Nazzāl al-Chalaila . The name Zarqawi, which he later adopted, refers to his place of birth , the Jordanian city of Zarqa . Az-Zarqawi belonged to the indigenous tribe of the Bani Hassan and is not, as is often claimed, the child of Palestinian refugees. This was confirmed by his mother in a television interview in 2003. He grew up in poverty and had seven sisters and two brothers. His father was a traditional healer; his mother had leukemia . He dropped out of school at the age of 17 and started working as a ticket teller in a cinema. At that time he dreamed of the sea and had an anchor tattooed on his arm, which he later burned out himself, according to a prison doctor. According to vague reports from Jordanian intelligence circles, Zarqawi was briefly imprisoned in the 1980s . He has been charged with sexual harassment. In 1988, Zarqawi married a distant cousin.

One of his sisters is said to have introduced him to the religion, who devoted herself to theological studies in Amman and frequented Islamist circles. In autumn 1989 Zarqawi briefly fought against the Soviet occupiers in Khost in Afghanistan . Since at this time the Soviet troops were already withdrawing from Afghanistan, he became the reporter for an Islamist newsletter, al-Bunyān al-Marsūs . He then worked for the Islamic Relief Committee , an Islamic NGO .

1990 to 2001: radicalization and imprisonment

In 1991 or 1992 Zarqawi returned to Zarqa with his mentor al-Maqdisi and joined the Islamist group Bai'at al-Imām (oath of allegiance to the preacher). In 1993, Zarqawi was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison . He was accused of wanting to abolish the monarchy and instead create an Islamic state of God . In prison, he went from being a simple fighter to being a leader and becoming a feared leader among the inmates. Since his family members, the al-Chalaila, are members of the Bani Hasan tribe, who in turn have high posts in the army and government, he received some kind of special treatment in prison, according to statements from his fellow inmates and was therefore feared by fellow inmates. He broke away from the influence of al-Maqdisi, who had also been sentenced to 15 years in prison with him and was interned in the same prison. During this time his views became more radical.

After his release in March 1999 as part of an amnesty for political prisoners in Jordan, he traveled with part of his family to Peshawar in Pakistan , as the amnesty was granted on the condition that he would never be allowed to enter Jordan again. According to his brother-in-law, he toyed with the idea of ​​opening a greengrocer's shop and leading a normal life. His visa expired in Pakistan ; At the same time he was suspected in Jordan of having been involved in an unsuccessful attack against a Christian institution.

In June 2000 Zarqawi crossed the border into Afghanistan alone and set up his own camp in Herat . According to American intelligence reports, experiments were also carried out with poison gas in this camp . There he also took his new name Abū Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, which means something like "Musab's father from Zarqa". In fact, he later named one of his sons Musab, but the original reason for adopting the name may have been Zarqawi's devotion to Musʿab ibn ʿUmair .

In the underground, he established a network called at-Tawheed . In 2001 he was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan for terrorist attacks ; He was also held responsible for the murder of the Israeli Yitzhak Snir on August 6, 2001.

2002 to 2003: In the Iraq war

On September 9, 2002, according to Jordanian sources, he entered Jordan illegally across the Syrian border.

After that he was the leader of the al-Qaeda group in Iraq until his death, where he was responsible for several terrorist attacks and the murder of hostages , including the beheadings of the American Nicholas Berg and the South Korean Kim Sun Il .

For the USA, Zarqawi was considered an enemy of the state and was wanted with a bounty of 25 million US dollars. This meant that the same head price was exposed to him as once upon Saddam Hussein . Only Osama bin Laden had a higher bounty of 50 million US dollars.

On February 5, 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell asserted before the UN Security Council that Zarqawi was acting as the link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. This mention made Zarqawi internationally known. The alleged connection between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein served the American government as one of the reasons for the planned Iraq war. As an official report by the US Department of Defense stated on April 5, 2007, there was in fact no active cooperation between the Iraqi dictator and al-Qaeda until Saddam Hussein was ousted by the Americans. Saddam Hussein, however, tolerated Zarqawi's presence in Iraq.

The Zarqawi camps were bombed as one of the first targets by the American forces in March 2003 , as there were suspected weapons of mass destruction laboratories. Az-Zarqawi's group did not carry out any attacks against American soldiers during the fighting in the Iraq war, rather they waited until the situation had calmed down. The jihad began in August 2003 with the attack on the UN mission in Baghdad , in which the United Nations envoy was killed. A few days later, Yasin Jarrad, father of Zarqawi's second wife, drove to the Shiite Imam Ali mosque in a car loaded with explosives . 125 people were killed, including Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim , Ayatollah and spiritual leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq .

Zarqawi allegedly put a bounty on Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in the amount of 230,000 euros. This was published on the Internet by the al-Walid Brigade . According to their own statements, this group belongs to Zarqawi's group at-Tauhīd wa al-Jihād .

Events in 2004

On February 19, Abu Muhammad Hamza, Zarqawi's chief bomb maker, was killed.

In early April, the Italian Fabrizio Quattrocchi was the first Western hostage to be murdered in Iraq.

On May 11, a video was published on the Internet showing the beheading of the American Nicholas Berg . The video was provided with the message: " Abu Musab al-Zarqawi slaughters an American ". On June 22nd, a video showed the beheading of South Korean Kim Sun-Il, who had been kidnapped the day before .

Zarqawi's alleged arrest was reported on June 28, which was denied. On July 1, 2004, Zarqawi was targeted for the fourth time in four weeks by bombing a house, which according to eyewitness reports killed four people and injured more than 10.

On July 17, Zarqawi confessed to the assassination attempt on Iraqi Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan , whom he survived, and a suicide attack on a recruitment office in Mahmudiyya south of Baghdad , in which the hospital reportedly killed two people and injured 47.

On September 20, Zarqawi apparently beheaded another hostage, the American Eugene Armstrong , in front of the camera. A day later, the second hostage, the American Jack Hensley , was also murdered. The British Kenneth Bigley , the third hostage, was also beheaded in front of the camera on October 8 after reading a message.

In September, two men associated with Zarqawi, Abu Ahmad Tabuki and Abu Anas al-Shami , were killed.

On October 14, US troops with special forces of the Iraqi army launched a major attack against the Iraqi city of Fallujah , as it was suspected that Zarqawi and his fighters were hiding there. The troops demanded the surrender of the terrorist and threatened to conquer the city. In the days before, several aerial bombardments had taken place on suspected whereabouts of Zarqawi. Several people died in the process.

On October 17, the Zarqawi group announced on a website that he felt he belonged to al-Qaeda and that he would obey the orders of Osama bin Laden . Attacks on foreign tankers were also announced. Since the published affiliation to al-Qaeda, the group has appeared under the new name Qāʿidat al-Jihād fī Bilād ar-Rāfidain ("base of jihad in Mesopotamia "). She had previously called herself at-Tawheed wa-l-Jihad ("Monotheism and Jihad").

On 24 October, Zarqawi known to the mass murder of 49 Iraqi recruits on the road from Badra to Mandali . All recruits were shot in the head killed after them on the way to the home leave with their minibuses in an ambush had fallen. The group around the terrorist published a message in which it a. reads: "The sons of Qāʿidat al-Jihād fī Bilād ar-Rāfidain succeeded in harvesting the stinking heads of 48 people who belonged to the so-called Iraqi National Guard." On October 25, the US Army became a leading member, according to reports of his group and close confidante of Zarqawis arrested during a raid by the US military in Fallujah. A few days later, another hostage, the Japanese Shosei Koda, was taken. Here, too, the Japanese government failed to meet the demands of the Zarqawi group. A video showing Koda's beheading was released on October 29.

In a statement published by the group on the Internet, the terrorist confessed to the attacks on police stations in the cities of Haklaniyya and Haditha, northwest of Baghdad. On November 7th, 22 police officers were executed there. On November 8th, Zarqawi published a call for jihad on an Arab website with the following wording (quoted by Spiegel online ): “Oh, people, the war has started and the call for jihad (holy war) has been made. In spite of the agony we suffer, by God, the enemies will only see things that will harm them ... Let us oppose them with all our might. ”It is believed that this is related to the major offensive of the US military against Fallujah. According to a statement by US Army Commander Thomas Metz on November 10, Zarqawi managed to leave the city unnoticed during this major offensive, in which Fallujah was completely cordoned off according to military circles. A massive offensive against Fallujah, the largest since the end of the war, took place anyway, and 1,200 male Fallujans fell victim to the fighting and the destruction of the city.

According to press information, local experts believed it possible and likely that Zarqawi fled to the Iraqi city of Mosul . According to American military information, the house where Zarqawi had stayed was found in Fallujah. The house was a large, hardly to be overlooked house with the large, also hardly to be overlooked address "al-Qaida organization". Documents, computers, notebooks, Korans and some corpses were found there. The documents included two letters from Zarqawi to senior subordinates. A letter was addressed to him with a request for money and support. A bomb workshop was found nearby. A jeep with US registration, as used by private security guards paid by the US Army, was there just to be converted into a possible suicide bomb. It is also reported that Zarqawi had a very good leadership structure, which was largely destroyed after the invasion. Video footage of the dead hostages and their clothes were also found there.

In November, Zarqawi's deputy Umar Hamid was killed in Fallujah. At the beginning of December 2004 a henchman by the name of Hassan Ibrahim Farhan was killed in a skirmish and two other helpers were arrested.

In a report in the German daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel on December 12, parts of a six-hour interview with a Kurdish follower from Zarqawi were reproduced. His name was given as Fathallah F.; the man is said to have been in Kirkuk at the time of the interview and was interrogated by the Americans using the leniency program . After that, Zarqawi planned an attack that would be even bigger than that of September 11, 2001 in New York . Zarqawi announced this to Fathallah F. in Fallujah before the American invasion. Allegedly he tried this in 2004 in Jordan. Several of Zarqawi's followers were arrested by the Jordanian police along with at least 20 tons of chemicals and explosives . It is believed that such an attack in Amman could have resulted in up to 80,000 deaths. Zarqawi may also be planning a so-called dirty bomb , i.e. a conventional bomb mixed with radioactive material. Fathallah F. also reported that he had met Zarqawi personally once. This meeting took place in Fallujah. At this point in time, Fathallah describes Zarqawi as slim, with short hair and streaks of beard on both corners of his mouth down to his chin. He is said to have worn two stainless steel wristwatches ; both legs were fully functional, ie he was not wearing a prosthesis. When asked whether he was in contact with Osama bin Laden, he replied: “No, not at the moment, but I'm looking for contact. It's tough. We have agreed that we will not take any chances. ”Zarqawi seemed to have almost inexhaustible sources of money, so on that day he allegedly paid out US $ 172,000 in cash to members of his group in preparation for terrorist attacks. He commented on the financing of his group as follows (quote): “We get financial support mainly from Saudi Arabia, logistical from Syria. Some Arab companies help us with the money transfers. This is almost the most important thing because all cash flows are monitored. Our most reliable partners are in Syria . The most ardent suicide candidates come from Yemen and Saudi Arabia . It would be no problem to find ten men a day for a year. We have fighters from 16 nations. "

An ex- Saddam Hussein intelligence officer , Abu Wael, had stated that many suicide bombers were unaware that they were being blown up. The assassins would be instructed to drive past a police station once and then the bomb in the car would be detonated remotely without the driver's knowledge.

On December 13, the Zarqawi group confessed to a suicide attack in Baghdad at the entrance to the so-called Green Zone , in which at least seven people were killed. On a website the quote appeared: " On this blessed day a lion from the Martyrs Battalion attacked a group of apostates and Americans in the Green Zone ".

According to reports from Western intelligence circles, Zarqawi should have evaded arrest mainly due to professional transformation with the help of cosmetics from the European film industry. It is possible that his appearance has changed so much that he can hardly be recognized and that he can move relatively freely in Iraq despite the most intensive search . He probably got the cosmetics from followers in Europe who bought the make-up on a large scale and smuggled it into Iraq.

On December 15, while Zarqawi was absent, the trial of him and his followers began in Amman for planning a devastating chemical attack. The nine co-defendants in his group refused to testify because of allegedly unreasonable detention conditions. The leader of the group, a man named Asmi Dschayyusi, told Jordanian state television that he had received $ 130,000 from Zarqawi to use to manufacture toxic chemicals, including to carry out an attack on the headquarters of the Jordanian secret service.

According to the US Army, Abu Marwan was arrested in Mosul on December 23. He is said to have worked for Zarqawi in a leading position. On December 25, the US Army announced that at the beginning of December 2004 two followers from Zarqawi had been arrested.

On December 27, a voice posing as Osama bin Laden announced on a tape held by the Arab television station al-Jazeera that Zarqawi was now the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

On December 30, the US Army reported that they had arrested a key Zarqawi helper, the 26-year-old Kurd, Fadil Husain Ahmad al-Kurdi , known as Rida. Rida is said to have been responsible for the exchange of messages between Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden. With this new arrest in the vicinity of Zarqawi, the US Army saw its terrorist structures severely weakened.

Events in 2005

The Zarqawi terrorist group remained active at the beginning of 2005. On January 1, a video appeared on a website of the terrorist group showing the shooting of five members of the Iraqi National Guard . Other Iraqis face the same fate if they served in the National Guard like those killed, the group said. She also confessed to the murder of the chairman of the Baquba provincial council and his brother.

On January 4, the Mayor of Baghdad, Ali al-Haidari , was assassinated; A website posted a video of the assassination in which the group assumed responsibility: “A group of mujahedeen of the al-Qaida organization for the holy war in Iraq killed the American henchman and tyrant Ali al-Haidari.” This fate face all traitors who collaborated with Jews and Christians , it said. At the same time, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense denied a report allegedly from Baquba that said Zarqawi had been caught by the Americans. This report was published in the Arab newspaper al-Bayyan , which it claims to have received from Iraqi Kurdistan Radio , which in turn was the first to report the arrest of Saddam Hussein .

On January 6, the Iraqi interim government announced that on December 22, 2004, Abd al-Aziz Saʿdun Ahmad Hamduni, known as Abu Ahmad, a deputy of Zarqawi in Mosul , had been arrested. The prisoner's identity had been clarified beyond any doubt.

On January 10, the Baghdad deputy police chief, Brigadier General Amir Ali Nayif , and his son, Lieutenant Chalid Amr, were killed by machine gun salvos from two cars while driving to work in southern Baghdad . Another message appeared on a website in which the group around Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the attack. There it said: “ The brothers of the al-Qaeda organization shot Amir Ali Nayif and his son and this is what happens to everyone who collaborates with the American occupation forces. "

On January 11, seven police officers were killed in a suicide attack with a car bomb outside a police station in Tikrit . Here, too, the group around Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the attack on a website.

On January 15, Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf was arrested. He is regarded as one of the closest collaborators of the terrorist and extremist leader Zarqawi and, according to the government, confessed to having built around 75 percent of the car bombs in Baghdad. The Iraqi interim government announced the announcement on January 24, 2005. Jaaf was arrested along with two other Zarqawi employees.

On January 17, the group admitted to the attack in Baquba on an Islamist website , in which a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at an army checkpoint and, according to the authorities, killed seven soldiers. At the same time, the group said they had also destroyed three polling stations in the city.

Another video was released on January 22nd, this time showing the "execution" of two Iraqis in public (on the sidewalk). The video carried the message: " The information department of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia presents you with a tape with the confessions and the subsequent execution of the divine judgment of two apostates who helped the USA ".

A day later, the Zarqawi spokesman published a speech on Zarqawi's behalf on the Internet . It announced the fight against democracy and issued a death threat against all candidates running in the elections. " We have declared war, " it said literally. The document relied on many religious statements in its testimony. The message is to be seen in connection with the elections in Iraq planned for January 30, 2005 , against which Zarqawi tried by all means.

According to the hospital, at least ten people were injured in an attack in Baghdad on January 24 that Zarqawi claimed to have committed. The US military also announced that Zarqawi had returned to the rebel stronghold of Fallujah , according to numerous reports . The chief of terror is said to have driven up in the city in a convoy of six vehicles. There is now an increased search for him.

On January 27, the group released a video showing the assassination of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's secretary . It shows how the man by the name of Salim Jafar al-Kanani is shot after saying to the camera: “ I call on all Iraqis, especially young people, not to support the enemy occupiers or to cooperate with them . ". On that day, the group confessed to five murders, one suicide attack, one execution (see above), a clash with US troops and the explosion of a supposed polling station. All messages were signed with Abu Maisara al-Iraqi, although it is not clear whether it is Zarqawi himself or someone else.

On January 28, the Minister of State for Homeland Security, Qasim Dawud, announced that two “key leaders” of Zarqawi's terrorist group had been arrested. These were Salah Salam al-ʿUbaidi and Muhammad Yasin al-ʿIsawi, who had already been captured on January 15 and January 17, 2005. Al-ʿUbaidi, who is believed to be known as Abu Saif, led the group's operations in Baghdad , it said. He has met with Zarqawi at least 40 times in the past three months. He also supported the group financially and logistically. Issawi, known as Abu Hassan, allegedly worked as a doorman and mediator for Zarqawi. On January 29, the Iraqi government managed to arrest Anat Muhammad Hamad al-Qais, aka Abu Alid, the day before. The 31-year-old arrested is said to have acted as a finance and logistics consultant .

During the months of February and March, the group around Zarqawi was repeatedly charged with new attacks.

On February 20, a US Army special unit narrowly missed the terrorists at a meeting at Ramadi , and according to reports on US news broadcaster ABC , he fled on a pickup truck at the last minute. His car, € 80,000 worth of cash and a computer with a very large hard drive were allegedly seized. A driver and a bodyguard were arrested on the occasion.

At the beginning of March, the US news channel CNN published new pictures of Zarqawi, but their origin could not be confirmed. Zarqawi's recent pictures were said to have been on the secured computer. A few days later, the Iraqi government announced that ten leading members of the Zarqawi terror network had been caught, including his deputy, bodyguard and courier Abu Kutaiba and his driver, whose name was Abu Usama.

On March 20, Zarqawi was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan for the murder of Laurence Foley .

In mid-May there were British press reports about an alleged wounding of Zarqawi. He was reportedly seen in a hospital near Ramadi. On May 24th, it was announced in various Internet forums that Zarqawi had allegedly been (seriously) injured in the fight and that one should pray for his recovery. As is so often the case, the truth of the message could not be checked. International media speculated whether this might not be a PR gag with the background of showing how brave and dangerous Zarqawi lived and to mobilize his supporters. There were also rumors on the Internet that Zarqawi had severe breathing problems after bullets hit him in the chest. Allegedly he is no longer in Iraq, but accompanied by a Sudanese and a Saudi Arabian doctor.

On May 25, another Internet statement was made known that a certain Abu Hafs al-Qarni was now head of al-Qaeda in Iraq while Zarqawi was injured. The letter was signed with Abu Dujana al-Tunini. It was speculated that possibly the followers should have been prepared for the death of Zarqawi. Other unconfirmed reports said Zarqawi was wounded in the US offensive in al-Qa'im, western Iraq. The Arab newspaper al-Hayat reported, citing an informant from the hometown of Zarqa, that Zarqawi was wounded in the right kidney two weeks ago. Because of the difficult situation in the West Iraqi Anbar Province, he could not be treated properly. In addition, it became known that Zarqawi's advisor, Sabhan Ahmad Ramadan, had been killed at a checkpoint in Ninawa province, according to the Iraqi government . Ramadan, also known as Agha Abu Saad, was a close collaborator of Abu Talha, the regional head of al-Qaeda in Mosul .

On May 28th and 29th, the variety of information about Zarqawi became even greater. There were media reports that he was supposed to be in Iran , followed by denials by the Iranian government and the Iraqi government; Al-Qaeda said in publications that Zarqawi had recovered, but at the same time he was still the head of al-Qaida in Iraq.

A tape was released on May 31st, allegedly by Zarqawi addressing Osama bin Laden. In the message, which was described as a letter from a soldier from the front to his commander , the terrorist said that bin Laden must have heard from the media that he was wounded and treated in a hospital in Ramadi. That is a pure assumption. It was a slight injury, thank God ... We are back and fight them (the American troops) in Mesopotamia , it said. Zarqawi had also sent bin Laden a plan for further action and asked for his approval. The authenticity of the tape and the authenticity of Zarqawi's voice were confirmed by US intelligence circles two days after it was reported. This seems to show that despite the successes of the US Army, Zarqawi always managed to address the public at a time of his choosing.

On June 17, the Iraqi interim government announced that Iraqi security forces had arrested a terrorist with ties to Zarqawi in a raid in late May. He was involved in more than 60 explosive attacks.

On July 2, Issam al-Barkawi, also known as al-Maqdisi, one of Zarqawi's most important companions and at the same time his mentor from Jordanian times, was released from prison. On the same day, the Egyptian ambassador to Iraq, Ihab al-Sharif, was kidnapped by the group around Zarqawi.

On July 5, Zarqawi announced in a new tape message that he would continue his fight against American and Iraqi troops. Shiite militias were also threatened with fighting.

On July 7, the Zarqawi group announced that they had murdered Ihab al-Sharif. " The Islamic court of the al-Qaida organization in Iraq has decided to hand over the ambassador of Egypt, an ally of Jews and Christians, to the holy warriors for execution ," said a statement published on the organization's website had been, quoted the mirror .

On July 27, the Zarqawi group confessed to the murder of the two Algerian diplomats Ali Belaroussi and Ezzedine Ben Kadi . In a - as always not reliably verifiable announcement - it also said: “ Your brothers from the military arm of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia carried out God's judgment today. "

On November 9th, 67 people were killed and more than 300 injured in bomb attacks in luxury hotels in Amman . Here, too, the terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack. On a website it said u. a .: " ... a group of al-Qaeda lions has launched a new attack in the land of the Muslims in Amman ... ". Since many of the victims were Jordanians and Muslims at a wedding party, Zarqawi felt compelled to apologize for the Jordanian victims in a message that was spread over the Internet. Der Spiegel quoted the speech as follows: “It would have been easy for us to see to it that the assassins blew themselves up in a public square ... We did not think for a moment that they (the innocent, the Red. ). ”At the same time, Zarqawi announced the murder of the Jordanian king . The Jordanian people reacted to these attacks with great opposition.

On November 19, there were reports that high-ranking al-Qaeda officials were killed in a storm on a farmhouse near Mosul. In the media and US government circles, there were different statements as to whether Zarqawi was among the dead. There was no clarity on this until November 21.

On November 20, 57 members of the Zarqawis family (including his brother and cousin) published half-page advertisements in Jordanian daily newspapers distancing themselves from their family member. They said whoever was against the king should have nothing to do with them until " last day ". They also announced that he could even be executed should they get hold of him. The background is the close ties between the Bani Hassan tribe and the Jordanian royal family.

On December 15, the US news broadcaster CNN , citing Iraq's Deputy Interior Minister Hussain Kamal , reported that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been caught by the Iraqi police in November 2004 but was released after interrogation for When they were arrested, they didn't know who they were looking at.

Since December 28, Zarqawi has been wanted by Interpol with an international arrest warrant at the request of Algeria for the murder of two Algerian diplomats in Iraq. He was placed on the so-called Red Wanted List by Interpol . This provided police authorities worldwide with photos, fingerprints and information about Zarqawi.

Events in 2006

A call from high-ranking Sunni clergymen who no longer supported the terrorist but wanted to drive him out of Iraq was made on January 31, 2006. This would have lost an important retreat for Zarqawi and his self-posited goal of a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites in the Iraq was endangered. It was suspected that the attack a few weeks earlier in Ramadi by a suicide bomber from the terrorist group who killed 42 Sunni recruits from the city had been too much for the Sunnis.

In the first few months of the year there were other attacks in Iraq, attributed to or claimed by Zarqawi.

On April 25, a video of Zarqawi himself was published for the first time on the Internet , on which he can be seen unmasked. He accused himself of murdering many people in Iraq and again threatened the occupiers of Iraq with death. In early June 2006, a close associate of Zarqawi, Qasim al-Ani, was arrested during a raid in Baghdad.

On June 2nd, Zarqawi released a final audio message. In the embassy he again called on the Sunnis to fight against the Shiite majority. The Sunnis should ignore the appeals for national unity and prepare for the confrontation with the Shiite snakes .

Zarqawi's death

Rubble of the house where Zarqawi stayed after the air strike

On June 7, 2006, US special forces landed in Iraq by abseiling from helicopters outside of Hibhib, about 80 kilometers north of Baghdad . As they approached Zarqawi's hiding place, an exchange of fire broke out between the US military and Zarqawi's supporters. To prevent his escape, the present American soldiers called for a targeted air strike on his hideout, which according to US figures (Col. Steve Jones, chief physician of the Multinational Force) at 18:12 by two F-16 has been executed. Contrary to the first information, Zarqawi survived the air strike. US troops were on site at 6:40 p.m. and encountered Iraqi police officers. Zarqawi died at 7:04 p.m., 52 minutes after the bombing. US military spokesman Bill Caldwell said Zarqawi groaned and mumbled to himself. But his words could no longer be understood. Iraqi policemen, who were the first to get into the bombed house, put the Jordanian on a stretcher. Zarqawi tried to roll off the stretcher. Contrary to this account, N24 and the Washington Post reported an eyewitness who is said to have seen that US soldiers trampled a man who looked like Zarqawi on the chest and stomach until he was dead. An autopsy was performed , which was carried out by the US military in accordance with Islamic rules. According to this, Zarqawi had died from injuries from the bombing. A subsequent mistreatment could not be determined according to US information. In addition, a DNA analysis carried out by specialists from the FBI revealed that the body was actually Zarqawi.

Shortly after his death, the Iraqi Prime Minister Javad al-Maliki announced that five other members of the terrorist cell had also died, including Abd al-Rahman . According to US information, he was dead immediately. General George W. Casey Jr. , commander of the coalition forces in Iraq, reported that Zarqawi's body had been recovered and that the identity had been established by coalition forces. Fingerprints , scars and facial prints were used as features. Allegedly, information from Zarqawi's close leadership circle led to the tip that a meeting was taking place in the bombed house. In addition, the Jordanian secret service is said to have provided important information, according to the news channel N24. According to information from the Jordanian secret service, this is said to have come from a high-ranking al-Qaida member who is said to have been arrested in Jordan. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced that additional information about the arrest was obtained through analysis of the video from Zarqawis . There should also have been indications from the population. It remains to be seen whether the US $ 25 million reward will be paid out.

Immediately after the bombing, at least 25 people were arrested in raids in 17 houses and in 39 other actions, according to the US military. Weapons, Iraqi army uniforms, night vision devices , passports and false license plates were confiscated. A few days later, Iraqi security forces arrested more than 40 suspected extremists . Some of them are said to have tracked her down based on documents found in Zarqawi's last hiding place.

On June 12, 2006, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir was named as his successor on an Islamic website . Zarqawi's possible successor could also be the official deputy Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Iraqi or the head of the so-called advisory body dominated by al-Qaeda , Abdallah Rashid al-Baghdadi .

Reactions to death

The Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki and the US Ambassador to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad described the killing as a great success in the fight against terrorism and for a democratic reconstruction in Iraq. Al-Qaeda confirmed the death and at the same time announced a continuation of their struggle: "We tell our prince, Sheikh Bin Laden, that your al-Qaeda soldiers continue to fight in Iraq as you told Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to do".

On June 11, 2006, a website posted a statement on behalf of the terrorist group founded by Zarqawi. It said that the holy war in Iraq would continue without the slain leader. The group decided to "prepare major operations that will shake the enemy". No information was known about a possible successor to their emir Abu Mussab. The authenticity of the document could not be verified.

The Cuban President Fidel Castro , meanwhile, condemned the American air strike on Zarqawi as barbaric and said that all suspects had a right to a trial. An elimination is unacceptable. Chancellor Angela Merkel described Zarqawi's death as “good news”. In a tape recording published in July 2006, Osama bin Laden described az-Zarkawi as a "lion of jihad".

literature

Web links

Commons : Abu Musab az-Zarqawi  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
 Wikinews: Category: Abu Musab az-Zarqawi  - in the news

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Günter Lerch: "The Atrocity". FAZ online, October 4, 2004. Accessed August 30, 2014.
  2. ↑ Abu Musab al-Zarqawi disowned by clan. In: abc.net.au. December 15, 2005, accessed August 25, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Andrea Nüsse: "Terrain of Terror". Frankfurter Rundschau Online, August 3, 2004. Accessed August 30, 2014.
  4. ↑ a b Jeffrey Gettleman: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Lived a Brief, Shadowy Life Replete With Contradictions. The New York Times , June 9, 2006, accessed August 25, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Oliver Schröm: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: The New Face of Terror. In: stern.de. October 8, 2004, accessed February 21, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Andrea Nüsse: "Terrain of Terror". Frankfurter Rundschau Online, August 3, 2004. Accessed August 30, 2014.
  7. ^ Jean-Charles Brisard, Damien Martinez: Zarqawi: The New Face of Al-Quaeda . Polity Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 978-1-59051-214-2 , pp. 32 ( google.at ).
  8. ↑ "Zarqawi and the 'al-Qaeda link', BBC News online, February 5, 2003. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  9. ↑ Jeffrey Smith, “Hussein's Prewar Ties To Al-Qaeda Discounted,” Washington Post, April 6, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  10. ↑ Terrorist Message. al Zarqawi to Osama bin Laden: I am well - May 31, 2005
  11. ↑ Iraq: Al-Qaeda announces the assassination of Egyptian diplomats - SpOn, July 6, 2005
  12. ↑ Charm offensive of a terrorist: Zarqawi fights against loss of sympathy in Jordan - SpOn, November 18, 2005
  13. ^ Al-Zarqawi's family cuts ties to terrorist ( Memento of November 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) - AP report, via CNN
  14. ↑ Official: Al-Zarqawi caught, released
  15. ↑ a b Reactions to Zarqawi's death ", Spiegel Online
personal data
SURNAME Zarqāwī, Abū Musʿab az-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES أبو مصعب الزرقاوي (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jordanian terrorist
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Zarqa , Jordan
DATE OF DEATH June 7, 2006
Place of death Baquba , Iraq