Iraqi terror fighter falls to his prey

BAGHDAD - He compared al-Qaida in Iraq to wolves, urging that the terrorist group be crushed since he believed its members would never reject violence. But the wolves got to the Iraqi counterterrorism officer first.

Ahmed Subhi al-Fahal's death in a suicide bombing in Tikrit could embolden al-Qaida loyalists to try to make a return to the area around Saddam Hussein's hometown where he held sway. On Friday, within hours of his killing, dozens of Web sites affiliated with al-Qaida in Iraq were already celebrating the death of their longtime nemesis.

The attack also stood as a reminder that Iraqi security officials who work closely with American forces remain a prime target for insurgents even as overall violence in Iraq fades.

Thursday's bombing, outside a goldsmith's store, also killed two of al-Fahal's bodyguards and two bystanders in Tikrit - which holds symbolic significance for the Sunni-led insurgents because of its connection with Saddam.

Al-Fahal, in his early 30s, was a lieutenant colonel in the Salahuddin provincial police force. But he was mostly known, by al-Qaida and the American military alike, as one of central Iraq's top counterterror officials, bent on purging insurgents from his turf.

"It is better to kill al-Qaida's members because it is no use to reform them," al-Fahal said in a recent interview with Al-Arabiya TV. He was paraphrasing a religious saying that there is no use in trying to reform wolves - instead, they must be killed.

And kill them he did.

In his interview, al-Fahal claimed he killed more than 250 al-Qaida terrorists: 200 Iraqis and 50 Arab foreign fighters.

He was also thrown the most difficult missions. It was al-Fahal who was called in to track down 16 prisoners - including several al-Qaida-linked inmates awaiting execution - who escaped in a stunning September jailbreak in Tikrit that deeply embarrassed Iraqi officials.

Most of the prisoners were recaptured, but al-Fahal said tw