Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday that the $25 million bounty on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's head will be honored. "We will meet our promise," al-Maliki told al-Arabiya television without elaborating.
The United States had put forth the $25 million bounty for information leading to the death or capture of al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi, a 39-year-old Jordanian-born terrorist, was killed in a U.S. airstrike Wednesday.
Also killed in the airstrike was al-Zarqawi's deputy and spiritual adviser Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, who had been key to pinpointing his boss' location, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said. Intelligence officials identified al-Iraqi with the help of an insider in al-Zarqawi's network and began tracking his movements, watching when he would meet with his boss.
The U.S. also has a $25 million bounty for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Al-Zarqawi swore allegiance to bin Laden in 2004.
