A U.S. military strike has killed the most feared terrorist in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. As the head of a group called "al-Qaida in Iraq," Zarqawi was blamed for coordinating suicide bombings, beheadings and other violence. The U.S. military reportedly relied on intelligence from Zarqawi's own network to find him.
The Jordanian-born Zarqawi was killed when U.S. warplanes dropped 500-pound bombs on his hiding place. Pentagon officials say they later found a "treasure trove" of material at the hiding place, which they believe will help in future operations.
Zarqawi's death Wednesday ended a winding path from Jordan to Afghanistan and Iraq. After dropping out of high school in Jordan, Zarqawi reportedly embraced a branch of radical Islam while fighting in Afghanistan. After a prison sentence in Jordan, he carried the banner of radical Islam to a remote corner of Iraq. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, he swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden, and his organization began to call itself al-Qaida in Iraq.
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