Attempt made to kill Al-Zarqawi in past 10 days

There was a failed attempt to kill Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the past 10 days before a successful airstrike, Iraq’s prime minister said today.

“Since a week or 10 days ago, there was intelligence information about the presence and movements of this big criminal. There was a previous attempt to kill him but it didn’t succeed. Then we succeeded, thanks to God,” Nouri Maliki told Al-Arabiya television.

Maliki did not elaborate. Earlier, he announced in parliament that al-Zarqawi was killed last night by a US airstrike in the area of Baqouba, north-east of Baghdad, saying residents in the area provided intelligence to Iraqi security forces by residents in the area, and US forces acted on the information.

The prime minister told Al-Arabiya that two women who were helping al-Zarqawi were among the seven people killed with the militant leader in the strike.