Abu Musab Zarqawi

The leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi, denounced Arab countries working for political reconciliation in Iraq as U.S. agents, according to a recording posted online Sunday. "The countries that met in Cairo ... were involved in destroying Iraq and cooperated with America by opening their land, airspace and waters and offering intelligence to it," said the speaker, who officials said sounded like Zarqawi.

Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Zarqawi and seven other people were indicted Tuesday in connection with near-simultaneous attacks at three Amman hotels in November. Among those indicted by Jordan's military prosecutor was Sajida Rishawi, an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber who fled when her explosives belt failed to detonate. She is the only indictee in custody. Al Qaeda in Iraq, the militant group led by Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the Nov. 9 blasts, which killed 60 people.

OSAMA BIN LADEN says he doesn't fear dying. He says he fears being humiliated. So let's give it to him. Bin Laden and others have thrived on the almost obsessive American focus on them as personal rivals. We give them the coveted "Enemy of the Great Satan" brand whenever our national leaders single them out by name. What would happen if we ridiculed the terrorists instead? Would young people still flock to become "fighters" and suicide bombers?

Abu Musab Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by a U.S. airstrike early this morning in the town of Hibhib near Baqubah, said Hussein Maliki, a spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. The spokesman said Zarqawi, blamed for leading a relentless campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings, was severely injured in the attack and later died. Iraqi forces were the first to discover his body, Hussein Maliki said, and were able to identify him using pictures and fingerprints.

ABC News beat its competitors Thursday when it was the first on the air to report the death of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq. ABC broke into regular programming at 2:38 a.m. EDT, with a report by Martha Raddatz via phone to the network's overnight anchors. NBC's report came at 3:16 a.m. and CBS News checked in at 3:40 a.m.

The trail that led to the death of Abu Musab Zarqawi began with a tip gleaned from inside his Al Qaeda in Iraq organization, military sources said Thursday. An intelligence source, probably a detainee or defector, revealed that the key insurgent target was often accompanied by a religious advisor named Sheik Abdel Rashid Rahman. U.S.

Reactions Thursday to Abu Musab Zarqawi's death reflected the contradictions and conspiracy theories that surrounded the elusive figure in life. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad called the militant the "godfather of sectarian violence in Iraq" during a speech Thursday morning in Baghdad, shortly after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's televised announcement of Zarqawi's killing.

His somber face, fiery invective and bloody legend helped lure foreign volunteers and cash to fuel the insurgency in Iraq. He taunted his enemies, stirred sectarian rage and took credit for some of the most shocking acts in the annals of modern terrorism. But Abu Musab Zarqawi was mostly a looming image, a man whose contribution to the war derived largely from his symbolic value.

It was -- or should have been -- a moment of triumph. But when President Bush announced Thursday that U.S. forces had killed Abu Musab Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, his tone was noticeably reserved. He made no broad claims of victory. Instead, he warned of more fighting ahead. "Zarqawi is dead, but the difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues," Bush said in a six-minute statement from the White House Rose Garden.

Although Abu Musab Zarqawi made a name for himself with savage exploits in Iraq, he spent years building a web of international connections that, combined with his flair for self-promotion, had a profound impact on Islamic extremism worldwide. Accused of attacks and plots from Turkey to Germany to Jordan, the man slain Wednesday in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq established himself among militants as a consummate man of action.