Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be hiding out in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, local police sources said on Saturday, days after the interim government said it was hot on his trail.
"He came to Kirkuk from Mosul," a source in the Kirkuk police department said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There's a possibility that he might be captured at any moment."
There was no immediate comment from U.S. or Iraqi officials on the report that Zarqawi had moved to Kirkuk.
Iraqi officials have claimed in the past to be close to capturing the elusive militant, who has been behind many of the deadliest attacks in Iraq over the past year, including the kidnapping and beheading of several foreign hostages.
Iraq's interior minister said this month that Iraqi security forces were tracking Zarqawi and had recently come close to capturing him, missing him by only a few hours.
"We are following him," Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib told Pentagon reporters from Baghdad. "I think we missed him twice or three times, but hopefully next time we will be able to capture him." |