Did We Get Zarqawi, Update

I asked yesterday if we may have gotten Zarqawi during this gunfight:

A U.S. and Iraqi raid on a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq safe house in Mosul sparked a three-hour firefight in which four insurgents and four policemen were killed and three guerrillas blew themselves up, said Gov. Duraid Kashmoulaof Nineveh province.

Iraqi and U.S. forces had suspected Abu Musab Zarqawi, leader of Iraq?s most feared insurgent group, might be at the house, Kashmoula said. Zarqawi?s whereabouts have been the topic of a stream of murky reports; U.S. military officials have said they believe Zarqawi has vowed not to be taken alive.

The U.S. military was examining the dead late Saturday, the governor said. U.S. military spokesmen in Baghdad said they had no information other than word of the firefight.

Now it looks even more encouraging:

In Washington, a U.S. official said the identities of the terror suspects killed was unknown. Asked if they could include al-Zarqawi, the official replied: “There are efforts under way to determine if he was killed.”

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

American soldiers maintained control of the site, imposing extraordinary security measures, a day after a fierce gunbattle that broke out when Iraqi police and U.S. soldiers surrounded a house after reports that al-Qaida in Iraq members were inside.

Three insurgents detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture, Iraqi officials said. Eleven Americans were wounded, the U.S. military said.

This would actually make sense, his own country is mighty pissed at the man at the moment. It would be plausible that someone tipped off our troops and bang, he blew himself up.

I really can’t recall reading about these terrorists blowing themselves up rather then being captured….the fact that these guys did is good indication that Zarqawi is in fact dead.

Iraq The Model has some more details of the raid:

Al-Mada paper said that terrorists hiding in a house fired back at American and Iraqi troops that were surrounding the house in a battle that lasted from dawn to noon on Saturday (Jerusalem Post said it was Sunday)`after receiving intelligence about a meeting for senior al-Qaeda members.

The terrorists blew up the house when an Iraqi assault team tried to break into the house, the blast killed four Iraqi soldiers and wounded ten policemen and also killed all of the hiding terrorists.

Eight charred bodies were found in the scene, one of them belongs to a woman.

An Iraqi security official in Mosul said that US forces will most likely conduct DNA tests on the found bodies to verify whether or not Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi was among the killed terrorists.

Can we blame Bush for this one? Damn right we can.

UPDATE 11/21 0541hrs pst

Looks like we just missed him:

BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. forces “just missed” capturing terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a gunfight over the weekend in the northern city of Mosul, U.S. military sources told NBC News on Monday.

The military had intelligence that indicated al-Zarqawi was meeting with high-level Iraq in al-Qaida lieutenants, a Pentagon source said.

As soldiers closed in on the site, there was an exchange of small arms fire, then it appears the three al-Qaida suspects blew themselves up to avoid capture.

The military is conducting DNA tests on flesh and blood recovered from the scene, but a Pentagon official said indications are that al-Zarqawi is not among those killed.

“The information was solid. We just missed him,” said one Pentagon source.

Other’s Blogging:

Ace of Spades HQ
Dr. Sanity
California Yankee
A Blog For All

This would actually make sense, his own country is mighty pissed at the man at the moment. It would be plausible that someone tipped off our troops and bang, he blew himself up.

Curt

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