Israel Matzav

Amid a round of applause Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced at a news conference Thursday that al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed.

Al-Maliki annonced the terror masterminds death in a in a news conference along with the top US general in Iraq, Gen. George Casey.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AP over the phone that "since al-Zarqawi's latest video tape, there was a serious effort in chasing him and detecting his movement. The location (where Zarqawi appeared in the video tape) was pinpointed."

The Jordanian-born militant, who is believed to have personally beheaded at least two American hostages, became Iraq's most wanted terrorist, as notorious as Osama bin Laden, to whom he swore allegiance in 2004.

The United States had put a US$25 million (about €20 million) bounty on al-Zarqawi, the same as bin Laden.

Read the whole thing.