Abu Musab az-Zarkawi arrested

Arabic newspaper “Al Bayan” reported on Tuesday that terrorist leader Abu Musad az-Zarkawi had been arrested in Iraq.

Abu Masad az-Zarkawi is known to be a leader of one of the most radical and bloodthirsty Islamic groups “At-Taukhid wal-Jjihad”. The report quotes Kurdish sources. There has been no official conformation of the report. However, the exact sources have once informed the world about the arrest of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

According to “Al Bayan”, Abu Musab az-Zarkawi has been arrested in the town of Baquba, situated north of Baghdad, reports “Interfax”. However, there has been no official confirmation of the report.

In particular, the Pentagon doesn't confirm Zarkawi’s arrest “He has not been arrested. News about his arrest is nonexistent,” stated Pentagon's newspaper to the Arabic newspaper “Asharq Al-Awsat”.

Abu Musab az-Zarkawi was on FBI’s top most wanted list. US officials consider az-Zarkawi to be the one behind numerous terrorist attacks and insolent assaults on American troops in Iraq. The US was willing to pay $25 million USD of reward money for Zarkawi, the same amount of money as for the leader of “Al Qaeda” Osama bin Laden.

One of the major goals of the 38-year-old Jordanian-born Abu Musab az-Zarkawi is to turn Iraq into “new Afghanistan”. Based on the information from the Arab press, Iraq has been divided into several emirates by “At-Takhid wal-Jihad”. There are up to 500 militants in the group that organize raids in al-Fallujah, al-Qaim, Diala and Samarra. The organization’s total manpower reaches 1500 men, including Iraqis, citizens of Arab and Islamic states. There are also explosive specialists among them.

In his New Year's address, leader of “Al Qaeda” Osama bin Laden called Abu Musab az-Zarkawi “Al-Qaeda's emir in Iraq”. The former has also announced that he had accepted az-Zarkawi's proposal concerning the unification of the terrorist groups into a single unified organization.