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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted insurgent in Iraq, is dead, according to an aide to Iraq's prime minister.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was expected to make a public announcement of the death, the details of which are unclear.
Two Pentagon officials told CNN that the government is awaiting al-Maliki's announcement in Baghdad before commenting on the report officially.
One official says the Pentagon is not sure of how the death was confirmed and that there might need to be "additional forensics" done before they can be fully confident the terrorist leader is dead.
Officials could provide no further details at this time.
Terror mastermind al-Zarqawi had eluded U.S. and Iraqi authorities for years, often taunting them with recorded messages and videotapes, including one in which he is believed to behead an American hostage.
He and his followers had taken responsibility for or been accused of perpetrating or aiding suicide bombings, car bombings, beheadings and other acts of brutality.
Soon after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled, the 39-year-old al-Zarqawi quickly became the face of the insurgency.
Militant Islamic Web sites instantaneously posted his messages, bringing terrorism to cyberspace and reinforcing his support among Islamists.
In one videotaped posting, al-Zarqawi was suspected of being the masked man who beheads U.S. hostage Nicholas Berg, as he lets out piercing screams.
"For the mothers and wives of American soldiers, we tell you that we offered the U.S. administration to exchange this hostage for some of the detainees in Abu Ghraib (prison), and they refused," the voice said. "Coffins will be arriving to you one after the other, slaughtered just like this."
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was expected to make a public announcement of the death, the details of which are unclear.
Two Pentagon officials told CNN that the government is awaiting al-Maliki's announcement in Baghdad before commenting on the report officially.
One official says the Pentagon is not sure of how the death was confirmed and that there might need to be "additional forensics" done before they can be fully confident the terrorist leader is dead.
Officials could provide no further details at this time.
Terror mastermind al-Zarqawi had eluded U.S. and Iraqi authorities for years, often taunting them with recorded messages and videotapes, including one in which he is believed to behead an American hostage.
He and his followers had taken responsibility for or been accused of perpetrating or aiding suicide bombings, car bombings, beheadings and other acts of brutality.
Soon after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled, the 39-year-old al-Zarqawi quickly became the face of the insurgency.
Militant Islamic Web sites instantaneously posted his messages, bringing terrorism to cyberspace and reinforcing his support among Islamists.
In one videotaped posting, al-Zarqawi was suspected of being the masked man who beheads U.S. hostage Nicholas Berg, as he lets out piercing screams.
"For the mothers and wives of American soldiers, we tell you that we offered the U.S. administration to exchange this hostage for some of the detainees in Abu Ghraib (prison), and they refused," the voice said. "Coffins will be arriving to you one after the other, slaughtered just like this."
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