The spiritual mentor of Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Muslim cleric who justified Zarqawi's beheading of hostages in Iraq, has been killed in a US air strike, according to associates and relatives.
They said Omar Youssef Jumah, known as Abu Annas al-Shami, whose religious edicts or fatwas were heeded by his fellow Jordanian, died on Friday while hiding to the west of Baghdad.
Shami called himself grand mufti, or spiritual guide, of Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group, which says it has beheaded two Americans this week and is threatening to kill a Briton.
His wife in the Jordanian capital Amman was contacted on Sunday by Iraqi friends to tell them of Shami's death in an overnight air raid, a family member told Reuters. Shami and several comrades were being sheltered by local people from the Zouba tribe, from which anti-American insurgents draw support, close to Baghdad's main prison at Abu Ghraib, on the highway to the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah.
US aircraft have bombed buildings from Baghdad to Fallujah in recent weeks in strikes aimed at Zarqawi's group, which has claimed responsibility for some of the worst violence in Iraq.
For Shami, beheading was the most appropriate way to mete out justice to Islam's enemies, religiously justified by its prevalence as the most efficient way to execute criminals and enemies during Prophet Mohammad's era, his associates said.
Shami was also credited with writing many of Zarqawi's letters and statements that have appeared on Web Sites that purportedly claim responsibility for suicide bombings and attacks in Iraq, associates said.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20040922_207.html----------------------------------------------------------
When will this cycle of violence end? One killing leads to another and another and another. We know Zarqawi is going to respond by more killing.
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