A poster put up after the death of Abu Azzam says, "God willing, this will be the end of al Qaeda in Iraq."
Reuters Photo: A military handout photo released September 27, 2005 shows Abdallah Najim Abdallah Muhammad al-Juwari, otherwise...
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces said on Tuesday they had shot dead the second-in-command of al Qaeda in Iraq and the American military called the operation a serious blow to the militant group at the heart of Iraq's insurgency.
U.S. and Iraqi forces tracked Abu Azzam, said to be the right-hand man of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, to a high-rise Baghdad apartment building where he was shot on Sunday, U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Boylan said.
"We got specific information and intelligence that led us to him," Boylan said. "We've been tracking him for a while."
Al Qaeda in Iraq said it was not yet sure if Abu Azzam died in a clash with U.S. forces in Baghdad, and denied he was Zarqawi's deputy.
"The holy warrior Abu Azzam al-Iraqi is an al Qaeda soldier who heads one of al Qaeda's units operating in Baghdad ... it has not been confirmed to us yet if he died," said a statement on an Islamist Web site often used by al Qaeda in Iraq.
The Qaeda statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, mocked the claim that Abu Azzam was second to Zarqawi.
"In their latest desperate statement, they announce the killing of 'the second man' in al Qaeda in Iraq. We say, give it up -- your lies will not help you," it said.
The U.S. military said Abu Azzam's death was a setback for the two-year-old insurgency, identifying the Iraqi militant as a key player behind a surge in violence in Baghdad since April that has killed and maimed hundreds.
But attacks continued unabated. In the latest, a suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of Iraqi police recruits north of Baghdad, killing at least 10, police said -- another in a series of such bombings in past days.
Iraqi police said on Tuesday they also found 22 bodies of shooting victims near the town of Kut, southeast of Baghdad.
It was uncertain how much intelligence Abu Azzam's killing would deliver as he died before being questioned. U.S. and Iraqi forces tried to capture him alive but he shot at them, a statement said, and when troops returned fire, he was killed.
An Iraqi government spokesman said he was with other men at the time but it was not clear what happened to them. He said he was unsure how important the death of Azzam was.
MYSTERIOUS ZARQAWI NETWORK
"Even those members of this network who are arrested know nothing (about the organization) except noms de guerre and symbols," Laith Kubba told Al Jazeera television.
The U.S. military said Abu Azzam commanded day-to-day operations in Baghdad and other cities, and financed attacks and the passage of militants into Iraq from abroad.
"In spring 2005, he assumed the position of Emir of Baghdad, where he reportedly directed and controlled all terrorist activity and operations in and around the city," it said.
His death follows the capture or killing of several Zarqawi associates in recent months, including a driver and several junior commanders, that have led U.S. forces to believe they may be closing in on the guerrilla chief himself.
However, the U.S. military has said before it was hot on Zarqawi's heels, only for him to slip away and attacks to persist. A $25 million bounty has been offered for his death or capture. He is thought to be hiding in the Euphrates valley of west Iraq.
In Washington, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, told a Pentagon briefing: "Clearly Zarqawi knows that he's under a lot of pressure. I think we've come close to stepping on his tail several times, but he always seems to escape. But his lieutenants haven't."
A Jordanian, Zarqawi is allied to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. His group has claimed many attacks in Iraq, and has pledged all-out war against Iraq's majority Shi'ite population, a bid to provoke civil war.
The U.S. military was quick to claim a breakthrough.
"By taking Abu Azzam off the street, another close associate of Zarqawi, we have dealt another serious blow to Zarqawi's terrorist organization," said Major General Rick Lynch, chief spokesman for U.S. forces.
MORE VIOLENCE
But officials have warned of more violence in the run-up to a referendum on a new constitution on October 15, when voters are expected to approve a document drawn up by the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government over Sunni Arab objections. The Sunni Arab minority forms the bulk of the insurgency.
In Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber strapped with explosives mingled among a crowd of hundreds of police recruits in the center of town and blew himself up, killing at least 10 and wounding 26.
The bomber approached the police station on foot, dressed in black and making no attempt to conceal his suicide vest, Specialist Jeff Young of the U.S. military told Reuters.
(Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, Mussab al-Khairalla, Sebastian Alison and Mohammed Ramahi in Baghdad, Faris al-Mehdawi in Baquba and Sami Jumaili in Kerbala)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The bodies of 22 men were found Tuesday in southern Iraq shot in the head with their hands tied, police in Baghdad said.
The men may have been tortured, police said.
According to The Associated Press, an Iraqi official said the men appeared to have been killed recently.
Maj. Felah Al-Mohammedawi of Iraq's Interior Ministry told the AP most of the men had been blindfolded and their hands were tied with rope or plastic.
Police have not identified the men.
The bodies were discovered in Jassan, a town in Wasit province near Iran.
U.S. official: Senior al-Zarqawi aide killed
Al Qaeda in Iraq's No. 2 operative was killed during a raid by coalition and Iraqi forces, a U.S. Defense Department official said Tuesday.
Abu Azzam, a "significant" figure in the al Qaeda network in Iraq, was slain early Sunday in Baghdad during a joint operation, a military official spokesman in Iraq said. (Full story)
Azzam had a personal relationship with terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and held senior positions in the al Qaeda in Iraq network in Baghdad and Falluja, he said.
"This creates a void for al Qaeda in Iraq, in their leadership, for a while," the spokesman said.
Gen. Richard Myers, outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "it will have some effect."
"Now the number two person, the person that is his [al-Zarqawi's] primary facilitator, the one that organizes things operationally, certainly in Baghdad, and has a lot of responsibility for the al Qaeda finances in Iraq, he's no longer on the scene," Myers said. "So, they're going to have to go the bench and find somebody that's probably less knowledgeable, less qualified."
According to the military, Azzam and another man fired at coalition forces as they entered a residential high-rise apartment just before 5 a.m. The forces killed Azzam and wounded the other man.
Two women were not injured, the spokesman said.
The military spokesman said Azzam's full name is Abdulla Najim Abdulla Mohammed al-Juwari and he also went by the name of Abu Salwa.
Attacks kill 12 Iraqis
Insurgents attacked a variety of targets in Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, including nine police recruits.
In Baquba, a man wearing a vest with explosives detonated himself at an Iraqi police recruitment center, killing nine recruits and wounding 23 others, police said.
Baquba is about 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Baghdad in central Iraq.
The attack was the second against recruits in two days; on Monday, a suicide car bomber killed five recruits in eastern Baghdad.
Also Tuesday, gunmen killed two Interior Ministry guards during an attack on a minibus taking detainees to Abu Ghraib prison.
Gunmen attacked the bus from two sides in northwestern Baghdad. Eight detainees and four guards were wounded.
Insurgents also struck three other targets in the capital, killing an Iraqi police officer during a gun battle in the western neighborhood of al-Khadra.
Other developments
CNN's Enes Dulami, Kevin Flower, Kianne Sadeq and Barbara Starr contributed to this report
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