Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Killed

"Today Zarqawi has been terminated." – Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed at around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday evening in a U.S. airstrike north of Baqouba in an isolated area known as Hibhib.

The demise of Iraq's top insurgent leader, who possessed a $25-million bounty on his head, began some weeks ago when American and Iraqi intelligence officials began tracking Abu Abdul-Rahman, a man believed to be al-Zarqawi's spiritual advisor.

An unidentified informant, purportedly from within the ranks of al-Zarqawi's organization, was also used to pinpoint the terror leaders' whereabouts.

The information led U.S. forces to an isolated safe house located in the small village of Hibhib, just north of Baqouba. Acting on credible intelligence U.S. F-16 fighter jets dropped two 500-pound bombs on the suspected safe house situated in a rural area surrounded by date palms.

The U.S. military reported Saturday that al-Zarqawi was still alive when U.S. forces arrived at the scene. After being strapped to a stretcher the infamous militant "attempted to sort of, turn away off the stretcher," according to Maj. Gen. William Caldwell. Al-Zarqawi was also reported to have mumbled a few indistinguishable words before finally succumbing to his severe wounds.

Zarqawi's body was identified through "facial recognition and fingerprinting."

The U.S. military also released several post-mortem pictures of al-Zarqawi. His face, bloated and bloodied, was still clearly recognizable.

The bombing, which obliterated the farm house, also killed the aforementioned Abdul-Rahman along with four other unidentified individuals.

The reaction to al-Zarqawi's death was – as so many things are in present-day Iraq – mixed and divided along sectarian lines.

Many Shiites, who al-Zarqawi repeatedly vilified and ruthlessly targeted over the years, celebrated the Jordanian militant's death. The response from Sunnis was much more muted; some from Iraq's minority sect mourned his passing and praised the late al-Zarqawi as a martyr.