Marines and Iraqis Launch Major Offensive in Volatile West
By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, May 26, 2005; Page A16
BAGHDAD, May 25 -- Insurgents said Wednesday in interviews and statements on the Internet that the leader of the group al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi, was struggling with a gunshot wound to the lung. One of Zarqawi's commanders said the Jordanian guerrilla was receiving oxygen, heightening suspicion that the groundwork was being laid for an announcement of his replacement or death.
In the volatile western province of Anbar, meanwhile, U.S. Marines clashed with gunmen in their second major offensive there this month. A combined U.S. and Iraqi force of roughly 1,000 troops killed 10 insurgents as it began a sweep of Haditha, the U.S. military said. The offensive followed an increase in insurgent attacks on Marines posted at a dam near that small city, 125 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi was reportedly wounded in an ambush over the weekend.
