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February 12, 2005

Suicide Bomb Kills 18 in Iraq; Zarqawi Hunted

Topics: Middle East News and Perspectives

In Kirkuk, police sources said they were hot on the trail of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who has claimed responsibility for many of the worst attacks in Iraq, including the beheading of several foreign hostages.

"He came to Kirkuk from Mosul," a source in the Kirkuk police department said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There's a possibility that he might be captured at any moment."

There was no immediate comment from U.S. or Iraqi officials on the report. Iraqi officials recently claimed to be close to capturing the elusive militant, who is allied to al Qaeda. U.S. authorities are offering a $25 million bounty for his capture.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a suicide car bomber killed 18 people near a hospital south of Baghdad on Saturday amid a surge of violence by Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim insurgents ahead of Ashura, the holiest festival on the Shi'ite religious calendar.

Posted by Hyscience at February 12, 2005 10:59 AM

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