Baghdad: Sympathisers of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi rushed on Friday to swear allegiance to his successor on militant websites.
There was still little certainty over who that will actually be after the death of the man who masterminded some of the most brutal attacks in Iraq.
Several militant online forums were flooded with messages of well-wishers pledging to "hear and obey" the man they claimed was the new "emir" or leader of Al Qaida in Iraq: Abu Abdul Rahman Al Iraqi.
Al Iraqi has appeared in past statements from Al Zarqawi's Al Qaida in Iraq as the "deputy emir."
His name was on a statement issued on Thursday by the group confirming Al Zarqawi's death and vowing to continue on his path of jihad, or holy war. But there was confusion over whether he was still alive.
The US military said that the Wednesday evening airstrike that killed Al Zarqawi also killed his "spiritual adviser," a man US military spokesman Maj Gen William Caldwell identified as "Abdul Rahman" or "Shaikh Abdul Rahman".
It was not known if "Abdul Rahman" and "Abu Abdul Rahman Al Iraqi" were the same person. But there are suggestions they were two different people. Caldwell said the slain man was not Iraqi while Al Iraqi's name suggests that he is.
Evan Kohlmann, a New York-based terror consultant, said he believes that Al Iraqi would become the new leader and that the "Abdul Rahman" killed in the airstrike was a different person.
"It is possible that two guys have the same name," said Kohlmann, whose organisation globalterroralert.com tracks the hierarchy of Al Qaida in Iraq and other militant groups.
He said Al Iraqi has long been known as an Al Qaida military leader, not a spiritual leader. US military officials did not immediately respond to requests for clarification on either Abdul Rahman. Meanwhile, the US military has put forward another name.
Caldwell identified the "most logical" Al Zarqawi successor as "Abu Al Masri".
The military spokesman gave the militant's full name on Friday as Abu Ayyub Al Masri, who was identified in a February 2005 announcement by US Central Command as a close associate of Al Zarqawi.
Central Command put a $50,000 (Dh183,500) bounty on Al Masri's head.
Caldwell said Al Masri was thought to have come to Iraq in 2002 after he was trained in Afghanistan.
