BAGHDAD — U.S. forces said Thursday that they had killed an Iraqi insurgent leader responsible for the death of a 20-year-old Army reservist who became a focus of national attention in the United States during the four years he was missing in action.
U.S. soldiers fatally shot Hammadi Awdah Abd Farhan during a gun battle Nov. 11 that broke out as they entered a house in western Baghdad searching for him, the military said in a statement.
Farhan, a leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq who was also known as “Hajji Hammadi,” masterminded numerous other attacks, including one in June that killed three U.S. Marines, two interpreters and more than 20 Iraqis in the western city of Karmah, the U.S. military said.
“The removal of Hajji Hammadi from the AQI network is yet another significant blow to the terrorist organization,” said Brig. Gen. David Perkins, the top spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, in a statement.
The military said Farhan was behind the April 9, 2004, kidnapping of Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, who went by “Matt” and was a private first class at the time, during an attack on his fuel convoy. A video was broadcast days later on the Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera, showing the Batavia, Ohio, native in a floppy camouflage hat surrounded by masked gunmen.
For nearly four years, there was no word on Maupin’s fate. Then in March, soldiers acting on a tip from Iraqi residents found his remains in an agricultural area northwest of Baghdad. His case had become so well known that thousands paid respects to his casket and attended a funeral service in the Cincinnati Reds’ stadium in April.
Maupin’s parents, Keith and Carolyn, set up a foundation in 2004, the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, to send care packages to the troops and keep their son’s case before the public.
Keith Maupin said he had been informed Wednesday about the killing of Farhan.
“Well, I feel that justice is being done,” he said. “Those bad guys over there can run, but they can’t hide. They’ll find them.”
Also Thursday, Pentagon and State Department officials began notifying defense contractors that private Americans and non-Iraqi foreigners working in key roles for the United States in Iraq will lose immunity and be subject to Iraqi law under new security arrangements.
