Forces claim “painful blow” to insurgents
BAGHDAD, September 27 – The U.S. and Iraqi troops are claiming to have killed the no.2 leader of the Al-Qaeda network in Iraq. The terrorist, an Iraqi man called Abdullah Abu Azzam was killed during a raid on an apartment in Baghdad. The forces reacted on a tip of an Iraqi citizen and raided the building, Abu Azzam was not willing to surrender so it resulted in a shooting in which he was killed.
It is believed that Abu Azzam led the operations of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. He is being held responsible for multiple bombings and other insurgent attacks and he’s said to have killed hundreds of Iraqi’s with his terrorist actions. He’s also believed to be in charge of the finances for foreign insurgents who have joined the group through countries like Syria.
He was right-hand of the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He was on the list of 29 most wanted insurgents on the list that the U.S. forces issued in February of this year. The price on his head was $50,000. The authorities are still not sure what kind of influence this will have on the insurgent attacks. U.S. forces and Iraqi troops have captured high-ranking insurgents in the past and there has been almost no change in the violence in the region. There hasn’t been an elimination of this size yet so the forces are confident it was a very painful blow to the organization.
Elsewhere in Iraq, in the small town of Baqouba, just north of Iraq, at least nine men were killed and over 20 wounded when a suicide bomber attacked them while they were applying for positions as police officers.
The U.S. military also released a statement which reports that in Khaldiya an U.S. Marine was killed in a roadside bombing. This ups the death count of U.S. soldiers to a staggering 1,918 since the beginning of the war in 2003.
