Al Qaeda in Iraq has named a successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike last week north of Baghdad, Islamist Web sites said Monday. The sites identified the group's new leader as Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, which means "the immigrant," indicating that he -- like the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi -- is not Iraqi. CNN has not been able to confirm the claim's authenticity. "The ranks of the Shoura Council of the Qaeda organization in the land of the two rivers was united on electing Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer to be the successor to the Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. God bless his soul on commanding the organization," one Web site said. Al-Zarqawi died of blast injuries less than an hour after the U.S. strike last Wednesday on a house near Baquba, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said yesterday. He was positively identified through DNA testing, the military said.
