U.S. military believes Zarqawi wounded - General
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-30 11:20

The U.S. military believes that al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been wounded, a top general said on Sunday.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. officials believed recent postings on a Al Qaeda Web site, but did not know if he was seriously wounded.

"What we've seen is postings on their Web site that says he's been injured. Because we follow these Web sites, we tend to believe that that is probably true. We don't know more than that right now," Myers told "Fox News Sunday."

"We tend to believe what was said on the Web site, that is that he's been injured. We'll have to wait and see," he said.

Myers said the information has not affected U.S. operations and that American troops would continue to put "24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week pressure on Zarqawi, his organization ... and we've been more successful every week we do this."

Myers spoke after The Sunday Times of London reported the militant had shrapnel lodged in his chest and may have been moved to Iran. It said his supporters might try to move the Jordanian-born militant to another country for an operation.

The British newspaper said Zarqawi, accused of masterminding suicide bombings, ambushes and assassinations in Iraq, was wounded three weeks ago when a U.S. missile hit his convoy near the northwestern Iraqi city of al Qaim.

Zarqawi's group has posted a number of messages on the Internet in the past week, most recently on Friday saying that he was "in good health" and was back leading operations after being wounded.

On Tuesday, al Qaeda said Zarqawi was wounded "in the path of God" but did not say how, when or where. It urged Muslims to pray for his recovery.

Washington has offered a $25 million bounty for Zarqawi.

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