BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A senior aide to Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed by Iraqi security forces, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Tuesday.

Allawi, in a televised address to Iraq's National Council, said police had killed Hassan Ibrahim Farhan and seized two of his aides, but did not say when or where.

Allawi said those captured were responsible for carrying out the beheadings of several hostages in Iraq. Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for many of the worst attacks to take place in Iraq over the past year, including beheadings of foreigners.

A group allied to Zarqawi said on Monday it had carried out a suicide car bomb attack on a checkpoint near Baghdad's heavily protected Green Zone which killed at least nine people and wounded 19.
 

Zarqawi and his senior aides were believed to have been hiding out in Falluja, a rebellious city west of Baghdad, until shortly before Nov. 8, when U.S. forces launched a major offensive to take the city back from Sunni Arab insurgents.
 

U.S. military officials have said they believe Zarqawi, or at least some of his chief lieutenants, may have fled to the northern Iraq city of Mosul ahead of the Falluja assault.
 
 

12/14/04 08:01