Iraq Counterterror Leader Slain in Tikrit

Slain Lt. Col. Claimed to Have Killed More Than 250

by Jason Ditz, December 04, 2009

The death of Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Subhi al-Fahal, one of the top anti-terror chiefs in central Iraq, is being celebrated by insurgents across Iraq, and crowed about on Iraqi al-Qaeda affiliated web sites.

Fahal was an outspoken terror opponent, and rejected government efforts to reform militants, suggesting that only killing them en masse could pacify the region.

And the colonel put his theory into practice, claiming to have single-handedly slaughtered over 250 members of al-Qaeda, at least 200 of them Iraqi citizens.

US officials praised the late Fahal as “brave and effective,” and said “he was the kind of person who was willing to lead Iraq to a peaceful future.” It seems this willingness was irrespective of the number of people he’d have to kill along the way.

But it seems that Lt. Col Fahal’s violent past finally caught up with him yesterday, when a suicide bomber killed him and ten other people. Fahal appears to have been the target of the attack.

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