Al-Qaida in Iraq denies Al-Zarqawi dead story

Al-Qaida in Iraq today denied that its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was among those killed in a weekend gunfight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

In a statement posted on an Islamic website that often carries militant reports, al-Qaida said it delayed responding to the rumours of al-Zarqawi’s death “until this lie took its full length to let Muslims know the extent of (the media’s) stupidity and shallow thinking.”

On Saturday, Iraqi and US soldiers fought a fierce gunbattle after reports that al-Qaida members, possibly including al-Zarqawi, were inside a house in Mosul. Three insurgents detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture and five more died in fighting, while four police officers also were killed.

Iraqi and US sources confirmed that DNA tests were under way to determine if al-Zarqawi was among the dead though the White House said reports of al-Zarqawi’s death were “highly unlikely and not credible.”

The US command confirmed the firefight and said 11 US soldiers, nine Iraqi army troops and one policeman were wounded. The US statement put the insurgent death toll at seven.

But the al-Qaida statement said five people, including a woman, were inside the house and that the woman exploded herself among 20 Iraqi and US soldiers to avoid arrest.

It said the four men were killed when helicopters bombed the house, and that 20 Iraqi and 15 US soldiers were killed.