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Zarqawi narrowly escapes US trap
US forces recently came close to capturing Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq and had found his laptop computer and seized some of his money, America's ABC television reported today.The most wanted man in Iraq just eluded capture on February 20 as he headed to a meeting in the western city of Ramadi, ABC News quoted a senior US military official as saying. Zarqawi's driver and a bodyguard were detained in the operation. The US set up Taskforce 626 last year to track Zarqawi, who has been accused of masterminding scores of attacks in Iraq. Following a tip-off from inside the Zarqawi network about the Ramadi meeting, members of the taskforce had troops in place and checkpoints around the city, as well as Predator drones in the air monitoring the region, the report said. The senior military official said that just before the meeting troops pulled a car over as it approached a checkpoint and at the same time a pickup truck about 1km behind quickly turned in the opposite direction. The US believed the militant leader was in the truck, he said. "Zarqawi always has someone check the waters," the official was quoted as saying. US teams began a chase, but when the truck was pulled over Zarqawi was not inside.
The official said Zarqawi's computer and 80,000 euros ($134,000) were found inside.He described the find as "a seminal event". The computer had "a very big hard drive", the official said, and recent pictures of Zarqawi. The ABC said Lieutenant General John Vines, the US commander responsible for daily military operations in Iraq, would not provide detail of the escape in a recent interview, but that he did say the Zarqawi network had been damaged. "We believe he is resilient," Lt-Gen Vines said. "He is incredibly evil and we can't forget that. So he is dangerous still, but he is on the run." The official said the owner of the safe house Zarqawi went to had also been arrested. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-04-26 |
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