WASHINGTON - US forces recently came close to capturing Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.
"We were close," General Richard Myers told a Defense Department press conference without confirming other details of media reports which said Zarqawi narrowly escaped a US operation but that American forces found his laptop computer and seized some of his money.
The most wanted man in Iraq just eluded capture on February 20 as he headed to a meeting in the western city of Ramadi, ABC News quoted a senior US military official as saying. Zarqawi's driver and a bodyguard were detained in the operation.
The United States set up Task Force 626 last year to track Zarqawi, who has been accused of masterminding scores of attacks in Iraq. The United States has offered a 25 million dollar reward for Zarqawi's detention, putting him on a par with Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it was now widely accepted by the US government and other countries that Zarqawi and bin Laden were now "connected in a variety of different ways" which he said could include the supply of money and intelligence.
Following a tip off from inside the Zarqawi network about the meeting, members of the task force were waiting around Ramadi and Predator drones monitored the region from the air, the report said.
The senior military official said that just before the meeting, troops pulled a car over as it approached a checkpoint and at the same time a pickup truck about a half-mile (one kilometer) behind then quickly turned in the opposite direction.
The United States believe the militant leader was in the truck. "Zarqawi always has someone check the waters," the official was quoted as saying.
US teams began a chase, but when the truck was pulled over Zarqawi was not inside. The senior military official said they had since learned that Zarqawi jumped out when the vehicle passed beneath a bridge and hid there before running to a safe house in Ramadi.
The official said Zarqawi's computer and 80,000 euros (104,000 dollars) were found inside.
He described the find as "a seminal event." The computer had "a very big hard drive," the official said, and recent pictures of Zarqawi. The driver and a bodyguard were detained.
ABC said Lieutenant General John Vines, the US commander responsible for daily military operations in Iraq, would not provide detail of the escape in a recent interview, but that he did say the Zarqawi network has been damaged.
"We believe he is resilient," Vines said. "He is incredibly evil and we can't forget that. So he is dangerous still, but he is on the run."
The official said the owner of the safe house where Zarqawi ran had also been arrested.
04/26/2005 18:07 GMT