Abu Musab al-Zarqawi born Ahmad Fadeel Nazal al-Khalayleh (Arabic: أحمد فضيل نزال الخلايلة, romanized: Aḥmad Faḍīl Nazāl al-Khalāyla), was a Jordanian....
He first appeared in Iraq as the leader of the Tawhid and Jihad insurgent group, merging it in late 2004 with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Recent information on Zarqawi is restricted to what his enemies and supporters have attributed to him.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the godfather of the Islamic State, arrived in Afghanistan from his home country of Jordan in late 1999.
While many analysts say he is using the Iraqi insurgency as a springboard to expand his operations, others argue his influence has been exaggerated.
Exporting the insurgency
The video-taped beheadings of foreign hostages that made Tawhid and Jihad infamous in 2004 have become less frequent since the group's merger with al-Qaeda.
Bomb attacks on Iraq's Shia-dominated government and security forces have continued apace, however, with many of the bloodiest strikes of 2005 blamed on Zarqawi's group, now renamed al-Qaeda in Iraq.
According to BBC security corr