Bomb blast killed al-Zarqawi, but he took an hour to die

A US military doctor today said al-Qaida terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi died 52 minutes after an airstrike against his safe house north-east of Baghdad.

A post mortem showed his injuries were consistent with those caused by a bomb blast.

Col. Steve Jones, command surgeon for Multinational Forces said that al-Zarqawi’s spiritual adviser, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman, was killed instantly. He added that an FBI test positively identified al-Zarqawi.

Maj. Gen William Caldwell said US forces arrived about 28 minutes after the airstrike and treated al-Zarqawi, who was breathing with difficulty.

Jones and a medical examiner who was not identified said that al-Zarqawi had “no evidence of beating or any firearm injuries”.

He said the first bomb was dropped by an F-16 at 6.12pm and that US troops arrived at 6.40pm, but found Iraqi police at the site.

A US military medic provided care at the scene and that “his pulse was such that he was not going to live. It was very evident that he had extremely massive internal injuries”, Caldwell said.

“At 7.04pm on June 7 , Zarqawi was dead,” Caldwell said.

He added that no decision had been made on the remains of al-Zarqawi and his lieutenant.