Successor to Zarqawi Is Announced

Posted on Jun 12, 2006

Al Qaeda in Iraq said in a Web statement that a militant named Abu Hamza al Muhajer had been chosen as the group’s new leader. Nothing is immediately known about Muhajer, except that his last name is Arabic for immigrant, implying that he is not Iraqi.

AP:

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a Web statement posted Monday that a militant named Abu Hamza al-Muhajer was the group’s new leader. Al-Muhajer succeeds Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed Wednesday by a U.S. airstrike on his hideout northeast of Baghdad, Iraq.

The purported successor was not immediately known. The name al-Muhajer, Arabic for “immigrant,” suggested he was not Iraqi.

“Al-Qaida in Iraq’s council has agreed on Sheik Abu Hamza al-Muhajer to be the successor for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the leadership of the organization,” said a statement signed by the group on an Islamic militant Web forum where it often posts messages.

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