Pizzas galore!

All that changed after US and British forces invaded Iraq, turning the country into the frontline between militant Islam and the West. Al-Zarqawi had found his calling.

While remnants of Saddam’s ruling Baath party were in disarray, al-Zarqawi and a small group of followers seized the initiative. In August, a series of suicide bombs set the tone for what was to come. One targeted the United Nations compound in Baghdad, killing 23 people including the UN envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello. Another killed Ayatollah Baqr al-Hakim, the most senior Shia Muslim leader, and 85 followers in the holy city of Najaf.

The list of bloody attacks attributed to al-Zarqawi runs to pages. The list of names runs into the thousands.

No one was spared — politicians, reconstruction workers, police recruits, American soldiers and even children queuing for sweets all fell victim to his suicide bombers. The result was a complete paralysis of government, the start of a sectarian conflict and a total breakdown of security.

In a letter intercepted by US forces in January 2004, al-Zarqawi set out his brutal logic. He denounced Shias, who make up two thirds of Iraq’s population, as “the most evil of mankind” and warned followers that they were “the lurking snake, the crafty and malicious scorpion, the spying enemy, the penetrating venom”.

His declared aim was to wage a sectarian war against the Shias and impose on Iraq a Sunni “caliphate”, which it was understood he would rule.

By the following year, al-Zarqawi dominated the insurgency. At one particularly bleak point, his supporters were so brazen that they flew the distinctive black and yellow flag of his group from the balconies of apartment blocks in central Baghdad. His next move shocked even his most loyal followers. He went on a kidnapping spree in Baghdad, targeting foreign workers and then filmed their beheadings and circulated the footage. Nick Berg, an American businessman, was the first victim. He was followed by a long series of grisly murders, which included Bigley, a British engineer, who was made to plead for his life before he too was decapitated.

By 2005, al-Zarqawi was still dominant, but the climate in Iraq had changed. His mentors in al-Qaeda were growing concerned about his extreme behaviour. In Iraq, the Sunni opposition was finding a political voice and was increasingly disgusted by acts of carnage carried out in their name.

The first signs that al-Qaeda was unhappy with its representative in Iraq came in a 6,000-word letter written by al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s number two, and sent to al-Zarqawi last summer.

In the missive, which was intercepted and made public by the Americans, al-Zawahiri tells his young protege that being known as the “Sheikh of the Slaughterers” was damaging al-Qaeda’s reputation.

“Among the things which the feelings of the Muslim populace who love and support you will never find palatable are the scene of the slaughtering the hostages,” he wrote.

The mood became even more hostile in November when al-Zarqawi dispatched suicide bombers to Jordan where they attacked three hotels killing 60 people. Most of the victims were Arabs, many of them guests at a Palestinian wedding. The incident provoked angry demonstrations in the streets of Amman against al-Zarqawi.

Times Recommends

• UN may halt 400-year-old 'freedom of the seas'
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone
• Gas deal on hold, but Ukraine may pay in the end