BAGHDAD [MENL] -- The U.S. military has intensified its hunt for Al Qaida network chief Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi.

U.S. and Iraqi troops, acting on new intelligence, have been raiding suspected Al Qaida hideouts in the area of Balad, north of Baghdad. Officials said new information has been obtained that indicated Al Zarqawi's whereabouts.

"Iraq has a bright future planned for its children, and that future does not include Jordanian-born Zarqawi or Al Qaida," U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Thomas Wright, who did not confirm the effort, told Arab journalists in an April 30 briefing.

Since April 16, the U.S. military has launched four raids against suspected Al Qaida safe houses in Iraq in search of Al Zarqawi. Over the last year, the military has captured or killed at least 25 of Al Zarqawi's lieutenants in central and northern Iraq.