Canadian Allegedly Leading Insurgency. Ottawa Checking Into U.S. Military Comm

A battle last week in the village of Turki, east of Baghdad, lasted for 40 hours of close combat, killing at least 72 insurgents and two American officers, the Times noted. "We hadn't seen anything like this in years," said Lt.-Col. Andrew Poppas of the 82nd Airborne Division. Poppas singled out the leadership of Rahman and told the newspaper the Iraqi Canadian had been mentioned on jihadist websites as a future replacement for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian who once headed Al Qaeda in Iraq, a group known for its beheadings of foreigners. Al-Zarqawi was killed earlier this year in an American air strike. But news of a high-level Canadian insurgent left officials here confused — and government sources said the name is not one that they recognize. A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson last night said that they would be looking into the newspaper report. There have been Canadians singled out in the past for their alleged involvement in Iraq — but the details of their cases differ from those mentioned by the military commander. http://tinyurl.com/y7her6

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