A Jordanian top operative suspected of bomb attacks in Iraq was killed "some time ago" in a US bombing and a letter outlining schemes for fomenting sectarian war is a "forgery", a statement allegedly from a group west of the capital said. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniyah mountains of northern Iraq "during the American bombing there," according to a statement circulated in Fallujah this week and signed by the "Leadership of the Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) Mujahedeen." However, it should be mentioned there was no way to verify the authenticity of the statement, one of many leaflets put out by a wide-range of groups taking part in the anti-US resistance. According to Western analysts, al-Zarqawi is of Bedouin stock, and his tribe, the Beni Hassan, straddles many borders in the Middle East. The statement did not say, however, when al-Zarqawi was supposedly killed, but US jets bombed strongholds of Ansar al-Islam in the north last April as Saddam Hussein's regime was collapsing. It said al-Zarqawi was unable to escape the bombing because of his artificial leg. Before the Iraq conflict began last March, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said al-Zarqawi received hospital treatment in Baghdad after fleeing Afghanistan. American intelligence sources said he apparently was fitted with an artificial leg. The statement said the "fabricated al-Zarqawi memo" has been used by the US-run occupation "to back up their theory of a civil war" in Iraq. Last month, the US-led occupation in Iraq made public an intercepted letter it said was written by al-Zarqawi to al-Qaeda leaders, detailing a strategy of spectacular attacks to derail the planned June 30 handover of power to the Iraqis. US officials say al-Zarqawi may have been involved in some of the series of bomb attacks this year in Iraq. "The truth is, al-Qaeda is not present in Iraq," the Mujahedeen statement said. Though many Arabs entered the country to fight US troops, only a small number remain, the group said. About a year ago, Jordanian authorities named al-Zarqawi as the mastermind behind the October 2002 assassination of Laurence Foley, a 60-year-old administrator of US aid programs in Jordan. Moroccan government sources said a group blamed for bombings last May that killed 45 people in Casablanca got its orders from al-Zarqawi. In Turkey, meanwhile, officials said he was believed to have played a role in bombings that killed 63 at two synagogues, the British consulate and a British bank in Istanbul in November. German authorities have reportedly said they believe al-Zarqawi was appointed by al-Qaeda's leadership to arrange attacks in Europe. **PHOTO CAPTION*** U.S. Central Command chief General John Abizaid (Lebanese Christian), March 3, 2004 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)