Zarqawi Autopsy Results Released, As Two More Children Die in Fighting

By: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi lived for 52 minutes after a U.S. warplane bombed his hideout northeast of Baghdad, and he died of extensive internal injuries consistent with those caused by a bomb blast, the U.S. military said Monday.

Col. Steve Jones, command surgeon for Multinational Forces, said an autopsy concluded that al-Zarqawi died from serious injuries to his lungs in Wednesday's airstrike. An FBI test positively identified al-Zarqawi's remains.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, said U.S. forces arrived about 28 minutes after a fighter jet bombed al-Zarqawi's hideout outside Baqouba. Medics secured al-Zarqawi's airway but his breathing was shallow and labored, and he expelled blood from his mouth.

"It was very evident he had extremely massive internal injuries," Caldwell said. Al-Zarqawi died 24 minutes after coalition forces arrived, he said.

Jones said the autopsy conducted Saturday showed that al-Zarqawi died from injuries to his lungs.

"Blast waves from the two bombs caused tearing, bruising of the lungs and bleeding," he said. "There was no evidence of firearm injuries."

U.S.-led forces, meanwhile, raided a house near a volatile city northeast of Baghdad on Monday, killing nine people, including two children, the military said.

The raid was staged in the area where Zarqawi was killed and the military said those targeted had ties to the insurgent group's leaders across Iraq and were involved in helping foreign fighters.

Local residents accused the Americans of targeting civilians and a man wearing a white dishdasha held up the charred body of a toddler whose head had been blown in half.

The Iraqis screamed "Allahu akbar" or "God is Great" as they loaded two wooden coffins onto pickup trucks.

AP Television News footage also showed the burned-out shells of vehicles and a devastated house with a large hole in the roof.

The military said coalition forces received machine-gun fire from a rooftop and two people with AK-47s had been seen fleeing the area just prior to the assault.

"Coalition aircraft supporting the ground force immediately suppressed the enemy fire, killing seven," the military said in a statement. "Following the assault, coalition troops discovered two children had been killed. One child was wounded and evacuated for treatment."