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June 25, 2012
Washington—A Jordanian member of
al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who was the nephew of former al Qaeda in Iraq
leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi was killed in a drone strike earlier this year,
according to a martyrdom statement that was released by a jihadist.
A jihadist close to Muhammad Fazi
al Harasheh, who was also known as Abu Hammam al Zarqawi, released the
martyrdom statement on the al Qaeda-linked Ansar al Mujahideen forum on June
20. The statement was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.
The date and location of Abu
Hammam’s death were not disclosed. He was initially reported to have been
killed in a landmine attack, in a statement released on jihadist forums on May
8, according to SITE. The US is known to have conducted 13 drone strikes in southern
Yemen between the beginning of April and the date his death was announced.
Three of those strikes took place in Abyan province, where Abu Hammam was known
to operate.
According to the jihadist, “spies”
aided in the killing of Abu Hammam in a drone strike as he traveled in a
vehicle.
“They were unable to kill him in the battles,
so they sent spies to guide them to him,” the statement said. “A drone came to
bomb the car in which he and one of the brother were riding, and so his pure
soul went to its maker.”
Abu Hammam traveled to Yemen
sometime last year and “entered the ranks of the mujahideen at the end of
2011.” He “pledged allegiance to Sheikh Nasir al Wuhayshi,” the leader of al
Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and its political front, Ansar al Sharia.
Wuhayshi served as Osama bin Laden’s aide de camp prior to traveling to Yemen
to wage jihad.
The jihadist who wrote the
martyrdom statement described Abu Hammam as “one of the hardest mujahideen on
the enemies of Allah,” who earned the nickname the “Lion of Zinjibar.”
According to other fighters, Abu Hammam “killed more than 26 apostates from the
vagrants of America, and ... he slaughtered number 26 like a sheep.”—INP
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