Al-Qaida Leader in Iraq Killed in U.S.-led Air Raid

BAGHDAD, Iraq,  The death of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the completion of the Iraqi Cabinet have given Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly "hope that violence may come to an end."

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari reacted to the news of al-Zarqawi's death Wednesday in a U.S.-led air raid saying that it was a happy day for the Iraqi people.

U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed their satisfaction upon hearing of the death of al-Qaida's leader in Iraq.

Another positive twist to the day's news also came when, six months since parliamentary elections, it was announced that Iraq finally had a full government after the key interior and defense portfolios were given to Shiite Jawad Bulani and Sunni Abdul Qadir Mohammed al-Obeidi, respectively.

"There is great hope that the violence that is torturing us might end," AsiaNews reported Archbishop Delly as saying.

"But we reaffirm that the best solution is always dialogue and not killing," he said. "Murdering one another for personal reasons cannot bring anything good. Loving, not killing one another, this is the path to follow."

Al-Zarqawi, who had a $25 million price on his head, died in an air strike thanks to intelligence that led to a safe house in the village of Hephep, north of Baquba, the coalition commander in Iraq, General George Casey, said.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari told the BBC that the elimination of the head of al-Qaida in Iraq was a devastating blow to terrorism but added that it won't stop the violence