'Top' Al-Zarqawi aid killed wearing bomb belt

aljazeera.net: Al-Zarqawi aide killed, US officials say

A top aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of the al-Qaida operation in Iraq and accused of masterminding high-profile bombings in the country, has been killed by Iraqi security forces, US defence officials said.

But the battlefield success hardly impressed two leading US senators, who on Sunday questioned the Pentagon's handling of the situation in Iraq and said they no longer had confidence in Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Abu Zubair, also known as Muhammad Salah Sultan, was shot and killed in the northern city of Mosul on Friday, when he got caught in an ambush set up by Iraqi security forces, the officials said, confirming a report by Mosul police.

No other details of the operation were provided. But officials pointed out Abu Zubair was wearing a bomb belt filled with metal pellets when he was killed. Read more

db: 'Top aid' killed 'wearing a bomb belt'. Is that not a bit unusual? If you have a revolving-door policy regarding your 'top aids' their ability to 'aid' is going to be limited. All reporting regarding the enigmatic Al-Zarqawi and his alleged 'top aids' must be read with a large dose of skepticism.