US forces caught up with the most wanted man in Iraq on Wednesday as warplanes killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the wartorn country, who had claimed responsibility for a bloody tide of assassination, beheadings and suicide bombings. In a political breakthrough, Iraq's Parliament approved Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's candidates for new defense and interior ministers amid a string of bombs that killed at least 31 people in Baghdad.

Jawad Polani was named as interior minister, Abdel-Qader al-Obeidi as defense minister and Shirwan al-Waili to head national security.

In one of the most significant developments in Iraq since the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Jordanian-born Zarqawi was killed on Wednesday in a joint US-Iraqi operation helped by tip-offs from Iraqis and Jordanian intelligence.

US forces released photographs Zarqawi's corpse, which had facial abrasions.

The air strike was carried out on a safe house in Baqouba by two F-16 fighter-bombers using 227 kilogram bombs.

US Special Forces were involved in trailing Sheikh Abdel-Rahman, Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, which helped uncover Zarqawi's presence in a small house in a palm grove area. Abdel-Rahman was also killed in the air strike.

Maliki said Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides, including two women.