Iraq: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and one of Washington's most wanted men, has been wounded, a web posting said yesterday in an announcement that could mark a significant development in the two-year insurgency.
The statement, which US officials said could be a ruse, was posted on an Islamist site that often publicises Zarqawi's group. It was released on another day of violence in Iraq, with three US soldiers and two Iraqis killed in car bombings.
"O nation of Islam ... Pray for the healing of our Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from an injury he suffered in the path of God," said the posting by al-Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq.
"You are the beloved of the mujahideen, and may God heal you and make you steadfast," the statement said.
The announcement follows unconfirmed reports this month that al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian for whom the Americans have offered a $25 million (€20 million) bounty, was wounded in fighting in western Iraq and had sought treatment at a hospital in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
Those reports followed the capture of one of al-Zarqawi's drivers, an aide and his laptop computer during raids in western Iraq, when the US military said it almost also caught al-Zarqawi.
Yesterday's web posting did not say how or where al-Zarqawi was wounded, but urged his followers to pray for his recovery. The language used indicated his injuries could be severe.
"The injury of our leader is an honour and an incentive to tighten the noose on the enemies of God and a reason to step up our attacks on them," the statement said, citing Koranic verses that referred to the Prophet Mohammad being wounded in battle.
If al-Zarqawi were captured or killed it would mark a significant breakthrough for US and Iraqi forces, although analysts also warn it would not put an end to the insurgency.
"I think it's pretty credible. I wouldn't be surprised if within a couple of days he ends up being dead and they end up proclaiming his martyrdom," David Claridge of Janusian Security Risk Management in London said of the web posting.
The US military in Iraq and the Pentagon in Washington said they had no new intelligence on al-Zarqawi's status.
"He's still our number one target to be captured or killed and until that happens the hunt is still on," said Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan, a US military spokesman.
He said similar reports had been heard in the past and were almost impossible to verify.
The report came amid a surge in insurgent attacks since Iraq's new Shia-led government was named on April 28th.
Yesterday, insurgents killed three US soldiers and two Iraqis in car bombings in Baghdad, a day after a wave of attacks and bomb blasts killed at least 56 Iraqis and five US troops.
In the past four weeks more than 600 Iraqis have been killed, deepening sectarian tensions and prompting Shia and Sunni leaders to open talks on reconciliation.
Attacks on Shia mosques and tit-for-tat killings of Shia and Sunni Muslim clerics have raised concerns that Iraq could be sliding towards civil war. One of al-Zarqawi's stated aims has been to sow sectarian strife and provoke civil war in Iraq.
The upsurge in violence has sparked a confrontation between the Muslim Clerics Association, an influential Sunni Arab group, and the Badr organisation, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the main parties in the Shia alliance that won the January 30th polls.