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Zarqawi recovered from wounds - web
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-28 08:30
Iraq's al Qaeda said on Friday its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was in good
health and was back leading operations in Iraq after being wounded, according to
a statement posted on the Internet.
"Our Sheikh is in good health and is running the jihad (holy war) himself and
has been overseeing the details of operations up to the time this statement was
prepared," a group spokesman said in a posting issued on Islamist Web sites.
Conflicting statements about the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq had appeared
on the Internet recently after the militant group announced on Tuesday that
Zarqawi had been wounded.
Iraq's al Qaeda said on May 27 its leader Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi was in good health and was back leading operations in
Iraq after being wounded, according to a statement posted on the Internet.
A combo shows undated handout file photographs of Jordanian militant Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi. [Reuters/file] | Al Qaeda said in its latest statement that there were no problems within the
network, one of the leaders of an insurgency against U.S. forces and the Iraqi
government.
"Our Sheikh has over the past two years established a cohesive leadership and
has a deputy and advisers," it said. "Al Qaeda Organization in Iraq is well and
cohesive."
On Thursday, an Internet statement in the name of al Qaeda Organization for
Holy War in Iraq said the group had named a deputy to fill in for Zarqawi, but a
later statement attributed to the group spokesman swiftly denied it.
Iraq's interior minister said on Thursday he had confirmation Zarqawi had
been wounded, but the country's prime minister later said there was no firm
news.
Washington has offered a $25 million bounty for Zarqawi, its top foe in Iraq.
Al Qaeda said on Tuesday Zarqawi was wounded "in the path of God" but did not
say how, when or where. It urged Muslims to pray for his recovery and vowed to
step up its attacks against U.S. forces and the Iraqi government.
Iraq's government said on Thursday it would pour tens of thousands of Iraqi
troops into Baghdad in an unprecedented operation to seal off the city and hunt
insurgents.
A separate al Qaeda statement posted on Islamist Web sites on Friday said the
operation was a "plot" against Sunni Muslims launched by the Shi'ite led
government because it was failing against the insurgency.
"In order for Sunnis not to be fooled by this plot, we tell them that they
(Shi'ites) are trying to harm the Sunnis, but they will be disappointed," the al
Qaeda statement said.
"The soldiers of God and the Sunnis will be victorious."
A rise in suicide bombings and ambushes by mostly Sunni Arab guerrillas has
killed more than 600 Iraqis in the last four weeks and raised fears Iraq could
slide toward civil war if the government does not deliver on pledges of
stability.
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