Zarqawi buried in 'secret location' in Baghdad

updated 6:25 a.m. ET July 2, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Slain terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been buried in an undisclosed location, the U.S. military and Iraqi government officials said Sunday.

Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told The Associated Press that al-Zarqawi had been buried in a "secret location" in Baghdad.

The U.S. military confirmed the burial but declined to give more details.

"The remains of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi were turned over to the appropriate government of Iraq officials and buried in accordance with Muslim customs and traditions," the military said in an e-mailed statement. "Anything further than that would be addressed by the Iraqi government."

Al-Rubaie would not say when the Jordanian-born militant, who was killed June 7 in a U.S. air strike northeast of Baghdad, was buried or give more specifics on the location of the grave.

Al-Zarqawi's family had called for his body to be returned to Jordan for burial, but the government in Amman had refused because of the triple suicide bombing his al-Qaida in Iraq organization carried out in the country last year.

The Amman bombings sparked widespread outrage among Jordanians who had been sympathetic to insurgents battling the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

The U.S. military listed the cause of death as "primary blast injury of the lung" after an autopsy was performed on al-Zarqawi, who survived for nearly an hour after the air strike outside Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

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