An autopsy of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi concluded that he survived for nearly an hour after the house he was in was targeted by a United States air strike on Wednesday, but died from ”massive internal injuries” caused by the shock wave from the blast.
US officers gave details of the autopsy in Baghdad on Monday as al-Qaeda in Iraq named a little-known militant to succeed al-Zarqawi, according to an internet statement. ”Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir is a good brother, has a history in jihad and is knowledgeable. We ask God that he … continue what Sheikh Abu Musab began.”
Muhajir was not among the names analysts had expected, but some suggested it could be a pseudonym. ”Muhajir” means immigrant in Arabic.
There was no sign of the unrest subsiding on Monday. Bombs in parked cars in Baghdad’s Sadr City and in western Baghdad killed at least nine people, police said.
The results of al-Zarqawi’s autopsy were released partly in an attempt to counter what one US officer called ”propaganda and misinformation”, including a claim that US troops had beaten the al-Qaeda leader. It was also an attempt to clear up confusion caused by an initial report by the US military that al-Zarqawi was dead by the time soldiers arrived at the scene.
Major General William Caldwell said US forces reached al-Zarqawi’s safe house near Baquba 28 minutes after an F-16 plane dropped two 226kg bombs on it, and found al-Zarqawi alive. A medic tried to treat him as he lapsed in and out of consciousness and brought up blood from his lungs.
The medic then checked the pulse in his neck ”which was barely palpable and quickly deteriorated; and which he determined, therefore, that al-Zarqawi’s death was imminent”, Caldwell said. He added that DNA tests had confirmed that the man was indeed al-Zarqawi.
A local witness told al-Jazeera that US soldiers had tried to revive al-Zarqawi. ”They were pressing on his chest, wanting him to speak or to respond, and they brought a bottle of water but he didn’t take it,” he said. Another witness claimed US troops had struck al-Zarqawi, but General George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, dismissed that as ”baloney”.
The bombs demolished the house, but al-Zarqawi’s body had no external injuries other than cuts and bruises. Colonel Steve Jones, the chief US military surgeon in Iraq, said: ”There was extensive blast injury to the lungs, with bruising and disruption of the lung tissue.”
”This wound was not immediately fatal,” said Jones, who was present at the autopsy. ”Death occurred as lung function deteriorated and the lungs became progressively unable to absorb oxygen into the bloodstream.”
Al-Zarqawi’s ”spiritual adviser”, Sheikh Abd al-Rahman, suffered serious head injuries and died instantly. The bodies of a man and three women or girls killed in the bombing were handed over to Iraqi authorities and have yet to be identified.
The role of US special forces in al-Zarqawi’s death remained unclear on Monday. There have been reports that soldiers from Task Force 145, dedicated to assassinating insurgent leaders, were near the house before the bombs were dropped. Asked about their presence, Caldwell said it was ”about 28 minutes before coalition forces arrived at that location and physically had, as you would say, boots on the ground at the safe house. They were not outside the building before then.” – Guardian Unlimited Â