The Bush administration has confirmed that U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq are investigating the possibility that al Qaida terror chief Abu Musab al Zarqawi was killed Saturday afternoon in a gun battle near Mosul.
"Efforts are being made to determine who was killed and if Zarqawi was among them," a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said late Sunday.
The same official told United Press International that efforts to confirm Zarqawi's death were "not a response to media reports but rather to what coalition forces found on the ground," the wire service said.
Traveling with President Bush in Beijing, however, White House spokesman Trent Duffy cautioned that there was no hard evidence Zarqawi was among the dead, saying early reports in the Arab press were "not credible."
Eight insurgents, including a woman, were killed on Saturday in clashes between joint U.S.-Iraqi forces and gunmen occupying the Mosul safehouse, Iraqi police told Reuters. Four more insurgents were arrested.
If Zarqawi has indeed been killed, it would represent the biggest victory in the war on terror to date. The Jordanian-born terror kingpin is believed to have killed thousands in car bombings and suicide attacks, and has reportedly personally beheaded at least one American, Nicholas Berg.
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