Across the U.S., Zarqawi's Death Hailed as Victory

In Marietta, Ga., the pastor of Jack Hensley, an American engineer who was abducted and beheaded by Zarqawi's group in 2004, said, "Justice has finally been served," the Associated Press reported.

"We don't know whether Zarqawi himself actually performed the execution, but he was the mind behind it, the instigator of it," said the Rev. Jerry Gladson of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Marietta. "So I'm relieved that this person who was one of the most dangerous people on earth has finally come to justice."

In Dover, Del., the father of Nicholas Berg, another U.S. victim of Zarqawi, had a different reaction. "I see more death coming out of al-Zarqawi's death," Michael Berg, a pacifist, told AP. "His death will incite a new wave of revenge. George Bush and al-Zarqawi are two men who believe in revenge."

Nicholas Berg, 26, was beheaded by a masked man believed to be Zarqawi, and a video of the killing was posted on the Internet.

Overseas, victims of Zarqawi's attacks cursed him as a murderer, while Arab supporters and relatives of the Jordanian praised him as a holy warrior, news agencies reported.

"As far as I'm concerned, he can rot in hell because that's where he is," said Paul Bigley, brother of British engineer Kenneth Bigley, who was beheaded in Iraq in 2004, AP reported.

Ashraf al-Akhras, a Jordanian whose wedding party in an Amman hotel was bombed last year, killing 27 people, said the death of Zarqawi came as "heavenly justice," Reuters news agency reported. Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing and two others in the Jordanian capital the same night. At least 60 people were killed in the Nov. 9 attacks.

In Zarqawi's home town of Zarqa about 15 miles northeast of the Jordanian capital, relatives of the man born Ahmed Fadhil al-Khalayleh mourned his death while hailing him as a martyr.

"God willing, there will be 1,000 Zarqawis to fight the Americans," one relative told Reuters.

"We expected that he would be martyred," an older brother, Sayel al-Khalayleh, told AP. "We hope that he will join other martyrs in heaven."

In Washington, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said the "success in eliminating the thuggish terrorist" shows that U.S. forces "are on the way to accomplishing" the goal of eradicating the terrorist network in Iraq. "Although major challenges remain, I am more optimistic then ever that a free and stable Iraq can be achieved," Frist said in a statement.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) called the death of Zarqawi "a major victory for U.S. troops, the war on terror and the American families we all seek to protect."