Confusion over al Qaeda's Iraqi leadership May 26, 2005 From: Agence France-Presse Al-QAEDA's Iraq branch denies it has named an acting chief for wounded leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Confusion reigned over who might replace Iraq's most feared man after al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq denied an earlier statement saying it had named a deputy to Zarqawi, believed to be seriously wounded. "The information section of the Al-Qaeda Organisation has its own media outlets known to Muslims, which is the name Abu Maisara al-Iraqi," the statement, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, said in reference to the name that most often accompanies statements purportedly coming from the group. "We deny the claim about the appointment of one Abu Hafs or anyone else. A statement issued earlier today, also signed by the information section of al-Qaeda Organisation in the Land of Two Rivers, said Abu Hafs al-Kurani had been appointed as deputy chief of the group pending Zarqawi's recovery. "The leaders met after our sheikh, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may God cure him, was wounded, and decided to name a deputy chief until the return of our sheikh. May God return him to us safe and sound," said the first statement. The first statement carried the name of Abu Dajjana al-Tunesi as the poster, whereas the denial was in the name of Abu Maisara al-Iraqi, who announced on Tuesday that Zarqawi had been wounded. Neither statement could be verified. Earlier, US officials had given greater credence to reports that Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, had been wounded in an ambush by US forces, but said they still had not been able to confirm the information. "The assessment is that all these data points may fit together to indicate he has been injured but we can't confirm he has been," a senior US defence official said on condition of anonymity. Among the data points, he said, were statements by an Iraqi doctor last week that he treated Zarqawi, a posting on a militant website on Tuesday that said he had been wounded in an ambush, and an internet posting that said he had gone to another country for medical treatment. The Washington Post quoted a Zarqawi lieutenant, identified by his nomme de guerre as Abu Karrar, as saying that the Jordanian militant had been shot and wounded in fighting near the western city of Ramadi last weekend. The defence official said there had been a lot of US military operations in western Iraq where Zarqawi was supposedly wounded. "It's possible he was injured in one of those," the official said. "I can also be him trying to make a hero out of himself, living to fight another day, quote unquote, proving how resilient he is." The internet posting declaring that Zarqawi had been wounded, and asking for prayers, was on a website used in the past by al-Qaeda in Iraq. It was attributed to the group's information section. US officials initially reacted skeptically to the message, saying statements attributed to al-Qaeda had been wrong in the past. But by Wednesday, officials were giving it greater credence. "The statement is certainly consistent with previous things we've seen posed to that site," a US intelligence official said. The official said it was possible that Zarqawi had been wounded, but harder information was needed to make a definitive judgment. "Different analysts are going to say different things," a second US defence official said. "This very well could be authentic but until you actually know where Zarqawi is, and who's actually posting it, it's very hard to definitively say: Yes this is true. "Does it meet some of the past things that have been posted that have been authentic? Yes, very much so [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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