The death of al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on Wednesday in Baquba, during a joint United States-Jordanian operation, was hailed as ”great news” on Thursday, but there were differing views on whether it would lead to a break in the violent insurgency that has wracked the Middle East nation.
”It’s a step forward,” Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said after US and Iraqi officials announced that al-Zarqawi, who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and kidnappings, has been killed. Japan has about 600 troops in southern Iraq performing humanitarian missions in support of the US-led coalition.
In Australia, which has 2 000 troops in Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard called al-Zarqawi’s death ”great news” for Iraqis, ”the real victims of his murderous behaviour”.
The Pakistani government said it hoped the militant’s death would blunt the violence in Iraq. ”It is a significant development in the war on terrorism and Pakistan continues to hope that the security situation will, particularly now, improve,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said.
But a former close aide to Osama bin Laden in Islamabad said the killing would spark more attacks.
”Al-Zarqawi’s martyrdom is not going to weaken the jihad in Iraq,” said Khalid Khawaja, a former Pakistani intelligence officer who aided militants like Bin Laden during the ”holy war” against the Soviets in Afghanistan. ”Rather, you will soon see more retaliatory attacks by his successors.”
Analysts agreed that al-Zarqawi’s death would change the face of the insurgency in Iraq, though not end it.
”He was emerging as the most formidable terrorist in the world,” said Rohan Gunaratna, head of terrorism research at the Singapore-based Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies. ”Al-Zarqawi was not only the most active terrorist in Iraq but also the most ruthless.”
Gunaratna said he expected the Iraqi insurgency to continue, but with fewer of the suicide attacks and beheadings that were the trademark of al-Zarqawi’s movement.