The US military has said the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was still alive when Iraqi police got to the scene of the air strikes that targeted him yesterday.
Major General William Caldwell said Zarqawi died from the wounds inflicted in the attack.
He stated there was nothing that indicated that Zarqawi was shot or died of wounds other than those received in the bombing.
Zarqawi was one of six people killed in the raid, including three men and three women. The others did not survive the air strike, which hit a safe house near the city of Baquba with two 500lb bombs.
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, said the $25m (€19.7m) bounty on Zarqawi's head will be honoured.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed the killing of Zarqawi at the same time Iraq finished forming its government was 'a stunning shock' to al-Qaeda.
He said it was not immediately clear who might succeed the Jordanian-born militant.
Zarqawi led a high profile campaign of videotaped executions and bombings that often targeted civilians and killed thousands.
Earlier, vehicles were banned from the streets of Baghdad and Baquba amid fears of reprisals for the killing.
