Qaeda's Iraq leader Zarqawi killed
U.S. warplanes killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's Iraq leader who masterminded a campaign of bombings and beheadings, in a strike that President George W. Bush said could help to turn the tide against the insurgency.

"(The air strike) delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq," Bush said in Washington on Thursday. But he signaled he did not expect an early end to the violence.

In one of the most significant developments in Iraq since the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Jordanian-born Zarqawi was killed on Wednesday in a joint U-S.-Iraqi operation helped by tip-offs from Iraqis and Jordanian intelligence.

The news coincided with a political breakthrough as parliament approved Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's candidates to become the new defense and interior ministers after long and intense wrangling among his coalition government partners.

Vowing to fight on, al Qaeda in Iraq confirmed the death of Zarqawi, who beheaded several hostages himself. The Sunni Arab, who had a $25 million bounty on his head, had declared war on Iraq's majority Shi'ites, threatening a full sectarian conflict.

The U.S. military released pictures of the corpse of the bearded Zarqawi with facial abrasions and eyes closed. The air strike was carried out by two F-16 planes, one of which dropped two 500 lb (227 kg) guided bombs onto Zarqawi's "safe house".

Osama bin Laden called Zarqawi, who was in his late 30s, the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq, and he had symbolized the radical Islamist insurgency against U.S. occupation.