Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said al-Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening in a house 50 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba.

A statement from al-Qaida in Iraq posted on the Web has confirmed the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and vowed to continue its "holy war."

"Today, al-Zarqawi was eliminated," Al-Maliki told a news conference, drawing loud applause from reporters in the hall where he made the announcement, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

It was a co-ordinated attack involving US and Iraqi air and ground forces. Zarqawi was said to have been in a meeting with associates at the time. Several other people were reported to have been killed in the raid.

Al-Maliki said the air strike was the result of intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by residents in the area, and U.S. forces acted on the information.

"Those who disrupt the course of life, like al-Zarqawi, will have a tragic end," he said.

In an address, President Bush said "Zarqawi has met his end and this violent man will never murder again."

The head of US-led forces in Iraq, General George Casey, said Zarqawi's body was identified through fingerprints, facial recognition and known scars.

Violence continued on Thursday as 13 people were killed and 28 injured in a bomb on a Baghdad market, police said.

Hezbollah and Israel

The death of Zarqawi comes less than one week after he issued an open warning to Hezbollah. The slain Sunni leader railed against Shiites in a four-hour-long audiotape posted on the Internet on Friday, saying militias are raping women and killing Sunnis and the community must fight back.

Zarqawi called for the disarmament of Hezbollah, claiming they have served as a "shield protecting the Zionist enemy (Israel) against the strikes of the mujahedeen in Lebanon."

"Hizbullah is an independent state inside Lebanon," said Zarqawi, in a message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television. "It presents deceitful slogans about Palestinian liberation when in fact it serves as a security wall [for Israel] and prevents Sunnis from crossing its borders."

Murdering thug

Zarqawi was a bloodthirsty and violent thug, who made countless enemies throughout his campaign to destabilize Iraq and the region. Last November, al-Zarqawi ordered a triple suicide bombing targeting hotels in Amman, Jordan that killed 60 people.

The Jordanian-born militant is believed to have personally beheaded at least two American hostages, Nicholas Berg in April 2004 and Eugene Armstrong in September 2004. The United States put a $25 million bounty on his head, the same amount as al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

In the past year, he moved his campaign beyond Iraq's borders, carrying out a Nov. 9, 2005 triple suicide bombing against hotels in Amman that killed 60 people, as well as other attacks in Jordan and even a rocket attack from Lebanon into northern Israel.

The safe house where al-Zarqawi was killed

Iraqi soldiers celebrate after hearing that al-Zarqawi was killed

Sources: AP, Reuters
Photo credit: AP, Reuters