GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
Zarqawi 'commander' of terrorists in Iraq
Al-Qaida-affiliated leader allegedly beheaded American
Posted: May 14, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Abu Musad al Zarqawi, the al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist believed responsible
for the videotaped beheading of American civilian Nick Berg on May 11 is viewed
as the field commander of most of the Islamist terrorists in Iraq, reports
Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence service.
Zarqawi also claimed responsibility for a terrorist bombing in Baghdad last
week. The attack on a coalition forces headquarters was the work of the Tawhid
and Jihad Group, a group that is part of the Zarqawi network, officials said.
He remains the most dangerous terrorist in Iraq despite a major covert
operation to find and kill or capture him and his group.
A communiqué posted on a Jihadist web site a day after the bombing stated a
terrorist it identified as Abu Mutab, a Saudi national, "departed in a car
loaded with 600 kilograms of TNT for the main headquarters of the occupying
forces and their apostate quislings, known as the Republican Palace."
The notice stated that the bombing was "a successful operation, in which the
brother was granted the chance to harvest many of the infidels and the
apostates."
Zarqawi is also linked to the Islamist terror organization Ansar al Islam,
which has stepped up operations in post-war Iraq. Many of the group's members
had fled to neighboring Iran and are returning to fight the coalition forces.
Kurdish officials in northern Iraq have stated Zarqawi was recently in the
northern part of the country and had a role in plotting the assassination of
Barham Salih, a local governing official.
An Ansar terrorist was caught before the attack could be carried out, and the
man had stated that he had met Zarqawi in the border town of Halabja.
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