Iraqi suspected in deadly truck bombings is killed
Al Qaeda leader Abu Mohammed Afri dies in a U.S. air strike. American officials say he was responsible for detonations that resulted in the deaths of more than 400 people.
BAGHDAD -- A U.S. air strike killed a man suspected of directing the Aug. 14 truck bombings in northern Iraq that caused the deaths of more than 400 Iraqis, the deadliest single terrorist attack since the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, military officials said today.
The man, Abu Mohammed Afri, was a leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, U.S. officials said, and was responsible for the synchronized bombings in three villages that targeted members of the Yazidi religious sect, a minority that is neither Muslim nor Christian.
The bombings leveled neighborhoods of crude earthen homes and shops, burying victims and overwhelming local medical facilities in the northern province of Nineveh. Hundreds of others were wounded and hundreds of homes were destroyed.
Iraqi and U.S. officials said the coordinated detonations of four trucks bore the trademark of Al Qaeda affiliates. Many Muslims view the Yazidi as non-believers for following pre-Islamic beliefs that reference Christianity and Islam.
Afri was reportedly spotted while driving Sept. 3 in a remote area about 70 miles southwest of Mosul in northern Iraq. He and his driver were killed in an attack by fixed-wing aircraft. Afri was identified by "close associates and detainees," according to a U.S. military statement, but officials did not reveal the evidence linking Afri to the bombings.
"This doesn't bring back the hundreds of innocent Iraqis who were killed in the vicious Nineveh bombings, but the death of Abu Mohammed Afri does bring justice to many families," said Maj. Winfield Danielson, a military spokesman.
