Europe, US Hail Death of Top Al Qaeda Leader Al-Zarqawi

From the White House to Downing Street, leaders hailed the news of al-Zarqawi's death with relief and caution.

"Now Zarqawi has met his end and this violent man will never murder again," US President George W. Bush said at the White House.

"Zarqawi's death is a severe blow to al-Qaeda," he said, adding that it presented "an opportunity for Iraq's new government to turn the tide of this struggle."

But the US leader cautioned that the "difficult and necessary mission" in Iraq continues.

"We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him," he said. "We can expect the sectarian violence to continue."

Blair warns of reprisals

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's closest ally in Iraq who also suffered a public backlash over the US-led invasion, said the killing was a blow against Al-Qaeda globally.

"We know they will continue to kill, we know there are many, many obstacles to overcome," Blair said. "But they also know that our determination to defeat them is total."

Blair added that he expected insurgents in Iraq to seek revengefollowing the killing of al-Zarqawi.

"There will be fierce attempts, with the formation of the government, with the death of al-Zarqawi to fight back," Blair told reporters. He added Zarqawi's death would not end the

killing in Iraq but said its contribution would be "significant".

"Big defeat for al-Qaeda"

European Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso said al-Zarqawi's death is a "big defeat for al-Qaeda," adding that he hoped it would help make violence in Iraq a thing of the past.

"We are now eager to work with the new government in Iraq," Barroso said. "We are eager to help them in addressing the challenges and one of the challenges is to put an end to the violence that is so oppressive in that country."

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) also welcomed the news.

"Al-Zarqawi will not be missed," said NATO spokesman James Appathurai on the sidelines of a meeting of alliance defense ministers in Brussels.

The news of al-Zarqawi's death came early Thursday after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced at a televised news conference with the top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey that al-Zarqawi had been killed in a joint US-Iraqi operation near Baquba, 40 miles (65 km) north of Baghdad.

"Today Zarqawi has been terminated," Maliki said. "Every time a Zarqawi appears we will kill him. We will continue confronting whoever follows his path. It is an open war between us," he said amid cheering and applause from Iraqi journalists.

"A monster"

The Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi, who had a bounty of $25 million (19.5 million euros) on his head, orchestrated a string of bloody attacks around the world and videotaped beheadings in Iraq, but managed to evade capture for years.

He last appeared in an Internet video in April, a bearded, beefy figure gripping a light-machine gun and vowing to defeat the United States and "chase" America out of Iraq "defeated and humiliated."

But reactions to his death have been most poignant among the families of his victims.

The family of Ken Bigley, a Briton kidnapped and purportedly beheaded personally by Zarqawi in a grisly video shown on the Internet, delighted in Zarqawi's death.

"I'm glad he's off the face of the earth, not just for my brother but for all the people he has killed," Stan Bigley said in London. "Ken was just one of a multitude of innocent people killed by that man. He was a monster."