Iraq PM says Zarqawi killed: TV
By Mariam Karouny 6 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced on Thursday that al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been killed, state television reported.
In Washington, ABC News reported that a U.S. air attack on a Baghdad house has killed Zarqawi. "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed in Baghdad during a bombing raid," ABC said.
A Pentagon press officer could not immediately confirm the report.
Jordanian-born Zarqawi is blamed by the United States for the beheading of foreign captives and suicide bombings that have maimed and killed hundreds in Iraq.
Maliki had earlier won the approval of his Shi'ite Alliance for nominees for the interior and defense posts and will present them to parliament on Thursday, Shi'ite sources said.
"Last night the Alliance gave Maliki authorization to present the candidates for interior and defense minister to parliament today," Alliance member Bahaa al-Araji told Reuters.
Maliki apparently broke the deadlock by offering to present two Shi'ite nominees for interior minister -- Jawaad al-Bolani and Farouk al-Araji -- in a bid to satisfy several leaders in his fractious Alliance.
Maliki's Sunni Arab nominee for defense minister -- Iraqi ground forces commander General Abdel Qader Jassim -- remains the same, said the sources.
Parliamentary approval for any candidates Maliki offers could help pull him out of a political crisis that has hurt efforts to impose a security crackdown against a Sunni Arab insurgency and sectarian violence raising fears of civil war.
Sunnis and Kurds have told Maliki they would back his candidate Araji for interior minister but three rival parties in his Alliance want Bolani, a former army colonel under Saddam Hussein.
The interior ministry came under intense scrutiny under the previous minister, accused by Sunni leaders of sanctioning death squads, a charge he denied.
The political stalemate that has prevented Maliki from filling the top security posts since he took power on May 20 has been set against some of the most gruesome violence Iraq has seen since a 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam.
Police found a total of 17 severed heads in Diyala province north of Baghdad over the last few days and gunmen dragged 24 people, mostly students, out of their cars in the same area and shot them dead on Sunday.
Iraq PM says Zarqawi killed: TV