Evidence from Jordon hotel bombing leads to hit on terrorist "safe" house in Mosul

NY Post:

Intelligence gathered in the Amman hotel bombings probe led to the recent U.S. raid on an al Qaeda safe house in Mosul where eight followers of terror master Abu Musab al-Zarqawi blew themselves up to avoid arrest, The Post has learned.

Officials said U.S. commanders in Iraq learned that the safe house in the northern section of the city was considered an "important location," and was being used by the group for meetings — sometimes by Zarqawi himself.

Sources said the improved understanding of al Qaeda in Iraq's structure has emerged in recent weeks from the joint U.S.-Jordanian probe of the Nov. 9 suicide attacks at three Amman hotels.

The Nov. 19 raid, which ended with eight terrorists dead and as many as 11 U.S. soldiers injured, was carried out by the Army's high-tech 172nd Brigade Combat Team.

Early speculation that Zarqawi was killed in the battle was later discounted by the White House and Pentagon, and denied by al Qaeda.

The terrorists inside the safe house, who detonated at least three bombs, were Jordanian and Syrian fighters who appeared to be part of a new suicide-bombing cell in the midst of planning a major operation, Evan Kholmann, a terrorism consultant for the government, said.

Kholmann said there are similarities between the cell in Mosul and the one that carried out the Amman hotel attacks.

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