Militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has announced.
"Today we have eliminated Zarqawi," Mr Maliki said, sparking sustained applause. The US said he was killed in an air raid near Baquba.
The Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq was considered the figurehead of the Sunni insurgency.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been blamed for scores of bombings that have killed hundreds of Shias and US forces.
His death does not mean either the Islamist al-Qaeda elements or nationalist fighters will give up, says the BBC News website's world affairs correspondent, Paul Reynolds.
Indeed his removal might well bring about an explosion of revenge by his followers, he adds.
The head of US-led forces in Iraq, General George Casey, said Zarqawi was killed at 1815 on Wednesday, in an air strike against an "isolated safe house... approximately 8km (five miles) north of Baquba".
"Iraqi police were first on the scene after the air strike," he said, followed shortly afterwards by coalition forces.
Zarqawi was said to have been in a meeting with associates at the time. Several other people were reported to have been killed in the raid.
General George Casey said Zarqawi's body was identified through fingerprints and facial recognition.
The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Zarqawi's death marked "a great success for Iraq and the global war on terror... Zarqawi was the godfather of sectarian killing and terror in Iraq".
But he cautioned that it would not end violence in the country.
Zarqawi has been accused of leading the rash of kidnappings and beheadings of foreign workers.
It has been suggested that he appeared personally on one video posted on the internet, cutting off the head of a hostage.
Local help
Mr Maliki said intelligence from Iraqi people had helped track down Zarqawi, who had a $25m price on his head - the same bounty as that offered by the US for al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
"What happened today is a result of co-operation for which we have been asking from our masses and the citizens of our country," he said.
The prime minister urged Iraqis to join political dialogue rather than violence, vowing to "carry on on the same path... by killing all the terrorists".
Shortly after the Zarqawi annoucement, the Iraqi parliament approved Mr Maliki's nominees for the key government posts of defence and interior ministers.
The two crucial roles had remained unfilled despite the formation of a coalition government.
"Today we have eliminated Zarqawi," Mr Maliki said, sparking sustained applause. The US said he was killed in an air raid near Baquba.
The Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq was considered the figurehead of the Sunni insurgency.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been blamed for scores of bombings that have killed hundreds of Shias and US forces.
His death does not mean either the Islamist al-Qaeda elements or nationalist fighters will give up, says the BBC News website's world affairs correspondent, Paul Reynolds.
Indeed his removal might well bring about an explosion of revenge by his followers, he adds.
The head of US-led forces in Iraq, General George Casey, said Zarqawi was killed at 1815 on Wednesday, in an air strike against an "isolated safe house... approximately 8km (five miles) north of Baquba".
"Iraqi police were first on the scene after the air strike," he said, followed shortly afterwards by coalition forces.
Zarqawi was said to have been in a meeting with associates at the time. Several other people were reported to have been killed in the raid.
General George Casey said Zarqawi's body was identified through fingerprints and facial recognition.
The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Zarqawi's death marked "a great success for Iraq and the global war on terror... Zarqawi was the godfather of sectarian killing and terror in Iraq".
But he cautioned that it would not end violence in the country.
Zarqawi has been accused of leading the rash of kidnappings and beheadings of foreign workers.
It has been suggested that he appeared personally on one video posted on the internet, cutting off the head of a hostage.
Local help
Mr Maliki said intelligence from Iraqi people had helped track down Zarqawi, who had a $25m price on his head - the same bounty as that offered by the US for al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
"What happened today is a result of co-operation for which we have been asking from our masses and the citizens of our country," he said.
The prime minister urged Iraqis to join political dialogue rather than violence, vowing to "carry on on the same path... by killing all the terrorists".
Shortly after the Zarqawi annoucement, the Iraqi parliament approved Mr Maliki's nominees for the key government posts of defence and interior ministers.
The two crucial roles had remained unfilled despite the formation of a coalition government.
