Al-Qaeda 'coming to end in Iraq'

The killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi marks the "beginning of the end" of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the country's national security adviser has said.
Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said the seizure of documents after the raid that killed Zarqawi provided key information about the militant group and its leaders.

"Now we have the upper hand," he told a news conference in Baghdad.

Mr Rubaie said a pocket hard drive, a laptop and documents were found in the debris after the strike.

The documents and records revealed the names and whereabouts of other al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders, he said, adding that more information has since been found in raids on other insurgent hideouts.

"We believe that this is the beginning of the end of al-Qaeda in Iraq," Mr Rubaie said.

"They did not anticipate how powerful the Iraqi security forces are and how the government is on the attack now."

One of the documents showed Zarqawi planned to widen the rift between the US and Iran by carrying out attacks on US interests falsely attributed to Iran, the prime minister's office said.

The news comes on the second day of tough new security measures that have been put in place in Baghdad amid fears al-Qaeda in Iraq is preparing new attacks after Zarqawi's killing.

There were noticeably fewer reports of violence in Baghdad than usual, though a chemicals worker was reported to have been shot dead in the west of the city.