Last week's killing in Iraq of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al-Qaida leader, must have come as good news for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who had formed a "national unity" government a little more than two weeks earlier. The death of the Jordanian-born insurgency leader will aid the government's efforts to restore security in the violence-plagued country, but there is no guarantee that the violence will end anytime soon.

An air strike by the United States on a remote house in Baquba, 65 km north of Baghdad, killed al-Zarqawi and seven of his aides. He is blamed for scores of suicide bombings that have killed and injured hundreds in Iraq. He is also responsible for the gruesome, videotaped beheadings of foreign captives, including Mr. Shosei Koda, 24, from Nohgata, Fukuoka Prefecture, in October 2004. He also ordered suicide-bomber attacks on three Jordan hotels last December, killing dozens.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden appointed al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq after the latter pledged his allegiance to him in October 2004. Al-Zarqawi is believed to have recruited hundreds of Sunni militants to take part in suicide missions. He is also believed to have formed a loose alliance with former agents of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Al-Zarqawi's band of militants is suspected of having been involved in attacks on U.S. forces and people connected to the Iraqi government. He was also responsible for sectarian violence against Shiites, whom he regarded as heretics.