The alleged presence of Al-Qaeda henchman Al-Zarqawi in Iraq has created a storm of speculation in the Iraq media, Nermin Al-Mufti reports According to unnamed sources quoted by the Baghdad newspaper -- the mouthpiece of the Iraqi prime minister's Al- Wifaq Party -- Abu Musab Al- Zarqawi is still in Iraq. The report said that Al-Zarqawi escaped the siege in the town of Samarra and moved to Hudaytha, a town in north-western Iraq near the Syrian-Iraqi border. But even though the whereabouts of Al- Zarqawi have been making headlines across the world, little concrete evidence of his presence in Iraq has so far emerged. Al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for many of the deadliest car bombings in Iraq and is also said to be behind the spate of kidnappings of foreigners in the country. This week, Al-Zarqawi's group known as Jamaet Al-Tawheed wa Al-Jihad claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt on the life of Iraq's justice minister Malek Dohan Al-Hassan. One day after the attack, the US conducted an air strike in the town of Falluja against what it claimed was one of Al-Zarqawi's safe houses. The strike, which the US army said was authorised by the Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, killed 11 Iraqis and wounded dozens more. Allawi himself has been a prime target for Al-Zarqawi. On Monday, the London-based Ashraq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that Al- Zarqawi had increased the price on Allawi's head to 200,000 Jordanian dinars, which amounts to $280 million. The US army has put a price of $25 million on Al- Zarqawi's head. There remain however, contradictory accounts about Al-Zarqawi's whereabouts in the country. One former Iraqi intelligence officer claims to have more definite evidence of his presence in the country. The officer allegedly came across a report in August 2002 which confirmed Al-Zarqawi's presence in Iraq at that time. According to the report, said the officer, Al-Zarqawi was wounded during an American bombing campaign in Afghanistan and was taken to Iran for treatment. Iran refused to allow him to remain in the country, and he was then escorted to the Iraqi border. From there he was reportedly taken by Yasser Abdul-Latif to Baghdad and admitted to the Ibn Sina hospital -- which is normally reserved for treatment of senior government officials and their families -- where his leg was amputated. The report apparently confirms that he then agreed to recruit Arab-Afghan fighters and bring them into Iraq. Soon afterwards volunteer fighters began to arrive in groups of 100 to 150, which were sent to various locations under Al- Zarqawi's supervision. According to the report, the CIA was alerted to Al-Zarqawi's presence in the country after intercepting a telephone call between him and his family. Al-Zarqawi assured his family of his safety, saying he was a guest of the Iraqi government. According to Yasser Abdul- Latif, the final portion of the report was partially burned during either the bombardment of Iraqi intelligence headquarters at the outset of the invasion of Iraq or during the pillaging that took place after the fall of Baghdad. Iraqi observers say that Al- Zarqawi's group has little -- if any -- support among Iraqis. They point out that there is a general perception that Al-Zarqawi's group has been targetting Iraqi civilians rather than US soldiers. The prevailing anti-Zarqawi sentiments among Iraqis took a new turn last week when two Iraqi national groups vowed to hunt down Al-Zarqawi and his group should they remain in the country. One group called the Iraqi Salvation Front (ISF) also issued the same warning to the Arab lawyers who were coming to Iraq as part of Saddam Hussein's defence team. Many Iraqis would like to see the expulsion of foreign fighters, including Al-Zarqawi. Most Iraqis firmly believe that foreign fighters are responsible for much of the violence which takes its toll on the country. They acknowledge that a distinction should be drawn between native Iraqi resistance fighters and the non-native elements who have moved their war against the US into Iraq and have targetted Iraqis in addition to US-led occupation forces. Is Al-Zarqawi's presence in Iraq fact or fiction? Ahmed Al-Samra'i, the imam of Umm Al-Qura Mosque and a member of the Organisation of Muslim Ulama (religious scholars) believes it is fiction. His opinion is also shared by many others, who say they heard that Al-Zarqawi had been killed in northern Iraq. This appears to have been confirmed by a report from a top-ranking official from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior who said that Al-Zarqawi had indeed been killed but that the news was not publicised for security and political reasons. Others give little credence to such rumours and believe that Al-Zarqawi is still alive and commanding anti-coalition operations in Iraq. Whether Al-Zarqawi is commanding resistance fighters or not, many Iraqi fundamentalists are flocking to join his ranks. News reports have quoted an American military official who said that Al- Zarqawi's forces in Iraq are on the rise, and are now estimated at between 500 and 1,000 fighters of mixed nationalities.
