Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, was "sold to the Americans" because he became too powerful, his wife Um Mohamed said in an interview published on Sunday. "My husband had become too powerful and he was no doubt bothering someone," she claimed in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Reppublica.
"His growing power and the consensus he achieved between the most radical groups cost him his life," she added.
Mohamed claimed her husband had been "the victim of a secret pact between Iraqi resistance fighters, the leaders of al Qaeda and the American secret services to eliminate him".
"In return, the Americans agreed to slow down their search for Bin Laden. Al Qaeda is currently trying to protect its charismatic chief,"she added.
Mohamed, whom the paper described as a Jordanian woman aged around 40, said the agreement had been reached with the Sunni tribes charged with protecting her husband, with the Jordanian secret services acting as intermediaries.
"Otherwise, they would never have been able to kill him in such a way, unless the Baquba attack was just luck," she continued.
Zarqawi was killed on June 7 in an American air raid on Baquba, north of Baghdad.
Public television station Iraqia reported that one of the Jordanian members of Zarqawi's entourage had revealed his whereabouts to the Iraqi forces.
The newspaper said Mohamed lives in hiding in Europe, and that the interview was conducted in Geneva.
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