Al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is believed to have been killed in a military operation in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Iraq’s foreign minister said today.

Hoshyar Zebari told the official Petra news agency during a visit to Moscow that Iraqi authorities were testing DNA samples from several corpses of insurgents killed in a weekend gunfight in Mosul.

“American and Iraqi forces are investigating the possibility that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s corpse is among the bodies of some terrorists who died in the special military operation in Mosul,” he said.

State television carried the urgent news in a scrolling newsbar at the bottom of the screen during regular programming, suggesting that Jordanian officials likely believe the report.

No other details were immediately available.

Earlier today, the White House had said it was “highly unlikely” that al-Zarqawi was among the dead.

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