IRAQâS most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, goes to sleep every night wearing a suicide belt packed with explosives, according to a leading insurgent who met him two weeks ago. âHe never takes it off,â said Sheikh Abu Omar al-Ansari, leader of a Sunni resistance group called Jeish al-Taiifa al-Mansoura (Army of the Victorious Sect).His account, passed to The Sunday Times by a reliable intermediary, is the first description of Zarqawi in Iraq since Washington slapped a $25m bounty on his head, the same as the reward for the killing or capture of Osama Bin Laden. According to the sheikh, Zarqawi sat cross-legged on a rug to eat with his guests and some of his 12 bodyguards, most of whom also wore suicide belts and carried American and Russian automatic rifles.
The sheikh also claimed one of the most widely circulated pieces of supposed western intelligence about Zarqawi â that he sought treatment in Iraq after losing a leg in a US missile strike on Al-Qaeda militants â is false. Ansari confirmed that he has both his legs and âwalks with confidence and balanceâ. He appeared to have recovered from chest and shoulder injuries he suffered in a separate US airstrike last year.
Zarqawi was born to a Palestinian refugee family in Jordan, where he is said to have grown up a tattooed, semi-literate, Shiâite-hating thug.
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Intelligence analysts are divided over how much authority Zarqawi commands in the insurgency. Some in the Middle East have even suggested that Zarqawi may not exist.
The meeting with Zarqawi had been arranged to help insurgent groups co-ordinate their attacks on coalition forces. Al-Qaeda members said the insurgent groups attending the meeting were discussing possible co-ordination of their attacks and plans to create an Islamic state. âWe exchanged talks and views and I spent many hours with him on the first day,â said Ansari. âHe did not dominate the meeting and refused to impose his views.â
The meeting led to the subsequent announcement about an umbrella body called the Mujaheddin Council, which posted a statement on the internet two weeks ago. The council claims to be representing Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Army of the Victorious Sect and the four lesser-known Sunni groups. Other leading Sunni groups were conspicuously absent.
The development suggested to some Middle East watchers that despite his reputation, Zarqawi may be struggling to consolidate his grip on the resistance. Many Iraqis have tired of violence and politicians were beginning negotiations this weekend to form a coalition government after election results announced on Friday.
âZarqawi is not in the position he used to be before â he seems to have lost the hospitality that he enjoyed in the past in Iraq,â said Dr Nimrod Raphaeli, a specialist at the Middle East Media Research Institute in Washington. âHe is trying to find a new base and new links with other groups.â