The man whose name bears the title of a video which shows the beheading of a US hostage is thought to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden.
US officials have offered a 10 million dollar reward for the capture of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who it is claimed is a key figure behind several terror attacks, including recent suicide bombings in Iraq.
The Jordanian, of Palestinian descent, is suspected of masterminding bomb raids on Shiites in Kerbala and Baghdad in a bid to cause civil unrest.
He also reportedly claimed responsibility for suicide boat attacks that killed three Americans and disabled Iraq’s biggest oil terminal for more than 24 hours last month.
The 37-year-old is wanted by Jordanian authorities after he was sentenced to death in his absence by a military court for leading a conspiracy to kill US aid worker Laurence Foley, 60, who was gunned down outside his Amman home in 2002.
Moroccan authorities believe he may have helped guide the Madrid train bombings which killed 202 people and he has also been linked to similar attacks in Casablanca and Istanbul.
Al-Zarqawi is said to have fled a life of poverty to operate in al Qaida training camps in Afghanistan where he specialised in manufacturing poisons.
He had a leg amputated when he was wounded fighting in the Afghan war against Soviet occupation.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has previously singled out al-Zarqawi as one of bin Laden’s closest associates. He said that after the fall of the Taleban, al-Zarqawi travelled to north-eastern Iraq, where he and his network helped establish another camp specialising in producing deadly poisons, including ricin.
He claimed that he was operating in parts of Iraq free from the power of Saddam Hussein but controlled by an Islamic group called Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of Islam).
The footage of US contractor Nick Berg being beheaded is entitled “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American” but it is unclear whether al-Zarqawi was shown in the video, or was claiming responsibility for ordering the execution.
The video posted on an Islamic militant web site showed five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks, standing over a bound man in an orange jump-suit – similar to a prisoner’s uniform – who identified himself as Mr Berg, whose body was found near a highway overpass in Baghdad on Saturday. http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2911845
The use of shocking video images appears to be a method of propaganda increasingly favoured by terrorists.
Two years ago Muslim militants released a gruesome video of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl being murdered in captivity.
The images were said to show Mr Pearl having his throat slit from behind and his body being dragged across the floor.
His final words were said to have been recorded as, “I am a Jew, my mother is a Jew”.
Mr Pearl, 38, was kidnapped while investigating a story about terrorism in Karachi, Pakistan.
The tape of his final moments was obtained by a Pakistani journalist who gave it to the US consulate in Karachi.
Terrorism expert Professor Paul Wilkinson said the al Qaida network probably used video messages more frequently than any other terrorist organisation.
“They are in the habit of boasting about their attacks and using video messages is one of the characteristic methods of propaganda that they have developed, I would say more so than any other terrorist group,” said Prof Wilkinson, chairman of the centre for the study of terrorism and political violence at St Andrew’s University.
Hostage taking was not, however, seen as a major tactic of al Qaida, which has tended to focus on suicide and vehicle bombings, he added.
“Hostage taking has never been a major tactic ... but they seem to be moving towards that area now because of the present situation in Iraq,” he said.
Chilling video footage of three terrified blindfolded Japanese civilians who were kidnapped in southern Iraq was recently released by their captors in a bid to force Japan to pull its troops out of the country.
The images showed one of the male captives being threatened with a knife against his throat and a Japanese woman weeping as the masked kidnappers brandished their weapons.
The video was broadcast last month along with an ultimatum threatening to burn the journalist and two aid workers to death if Japan did not withdraw its troops within three days.
After the video was screened by Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera, Japan’s government said they had no plans to pull out of Iraq and the captives were later released.
Al-Jazeera was also condemned by Britain and the US for showing pictures of captives and dead bodies in breach of the Geneva Convention.
The footage apparently showed two dead British soldiers lying in the dust and two British PoWs during the Iraq war.
Videos of five captured US soldiers looking frightened and stoical were also broadcast by Al-Jazeera during the war.
The four men and a woman were thrust in front of a microphone and grilled by their Iraqi captors.
Prof Wilkinson said the use of video messages has long been popular with al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Just three months after the September 11 terror attacks bin Laden issued a statement by video talking about the massacres.
The leader described the attacks against the US as “blessed” and talks about al Qaida’s aims “to stop American support for Israel, which kills our sons”.
In another tape, the terror mastermind is said to be seen laughing and boasting that the collapse of the World Trade Centre exceeded his expectations.
The recording apparently showed him grinning as he told guests at a dinner in Afghanistan that the suicide hijackers had only learned they were going to their deaths before they boarded the planes.
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