American forces sealed off a house in the northern city of Mosul where eight suspected al-Qaeda members died in a gunfight - some blew themselves up to avoid capture. The White House said Sunday that it was "highly unlikely" that al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was among the dead.
On Saturday, police Brig. Gen. Said Ahmed al-Jubouri said the raid was launched after a tip that top al-Qaeda activists, possibly including al-Zarqawi, were in the house in the northeastern part of the city. During the intense firefight that followed, three oeratives detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture, Iraqi officials said.
But Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, said reports of al-Zarqawi's death were "highly unlikely and not credible."
Meanwhile, an American soldier and a Marine died in separate attacks over the weekend, and a British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the south.
