Was Iraqi Militant Killed in Firefight With U.S. Forces?

Nov. 21, 2005 — -- Officials in Washington today are playing down reports that militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi died in a firefight with U.S. forces during a weekend raid in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

U.S forces in Iraq are preparing to compare DNA samples and fingerprints to the remains of what could be Zarqawi.

The U.S. Army's Stryker brigade has carried out a number of operations against suspected terrorist strongholds in the last few months and when three men blew themselves up rather than be captured on Saturday, it led to speculation one was Zarqawi. Jordanian intelligence officials tell ABC News that Zarqawi has sworn never to be taken alive by the United States, and travels with a suicide explosives belt.

U.S. officials were hoping that the tide had turned against Zarqawi following his group's claim of responsibility for an attack on a Muslim wedding in Jordan. His attempt last week to explain or apologize in an Internet audio broadcast was seen by many as admission of failure.

"Zarqawi is feeling the heat of Arab and Muslim public opinion," said ABC News consultant Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Sarah Lawrence College. "Arabs are turning against Zarqawi's global jihad."

The Mosul raid resulted from a tip, a sign that the wall of silence that has protected Zarqawi might finally be cracking.

"When Zarqawi says 'accidentally the roof fell in on the wedding,' I think the truth is the roof fell in on Zarqawi," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, a former U.S. counterterrorism official.