Ramblings' Journal

Al-Zarqawi in custody?

For nearly 24 hours now, rumors have run rampant across the internet that Al Qaeda terrorist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi (who leads a cell that has claimed responsibility for this morning's assassination of the Baghdad provincial governor), who was publicly tapped by Osama Bin Laden to be the "go-to" guy in Iraq, has been captured by American forces in Iraq.

The story has come from several foreign and less than reliable sources, but has neither been proven, disproven or even mentioned by the traditional mainstream media sources.

As of this morning, Drudge is on the case, and presumably, we'll get a more definitive answer soon.

Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, whom the US occupation authorities declared to be the "target number one" in Iraq, has been arrested in the city of Baakuba, the Emirate newspaper al-Bayane reported on Tuesday referring to Kurdish sources. Al-Zarqawi, leader of the terrorist group Al-Tawhid Wa'al-Jihad, was recently appointed the director of the Al-Qaeda organisation in Iraq.

The newspaper's correspondent in Baghdad points out that a report on the seizure of the terrorist, on whom the US put a bounty of 10 million dollars, was also reported by Iraqi Kurdistan radio, which at one time had been the first to announce the arrest of Saddam Hussein.

There have been no official reports about the arrest of the terrorist.

Drudge slugs this "'TARGET #1': al-Zarqawi reportedly arrested in Iraq," and the implication is that this may indeed be true.

Stay tuned. Figure on something shaking loose within the next 24-36 hours.

Posted by mhking at January 4, 2005 11:21 AM