Militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still alive when Iraqi police got to the scene of the air strikes that targeted him, the US military says.
But the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq died of his wounds shortly afterwards, Major General William Caldwell said.
US planes dropped two 500lb (230kg) bombs on Zarqawi's safe house near the city of Baquba on Wednesday.
Zarqawi had tried to move off the stretcher where he had been placed by Iraqi police, Maj Gen Caldwell said.
"Everybody resecured him back onto the stretcher, but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he had received from this air strike," he said.
'Mumbled'
Zarqawi had "mumbled something indistinguishable but it was very short", the US spokesman added.
When US troops got there, they had made an identification of Zarqawi by distinguishing marks on his body and "some kind of visual, facial recognition", he said.
"We do not know" why he had survived the initial strike, he said.
The US struck Zarqawi's safe house at 1815 (1415 GMT) on Wednesday after receiving specific tip-offs from within Zarqawi's organisation, officials had earlier said.
The US military had displayed images of the face of the militant leader hours after his death was announced on Thursday.
Major Gen Caldwell said they had "made a conscious decision that we were going to clean... his face up" for the photographs that were released.
But the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq died of his wounds shortly afterwards, Major General William Caldwell said.
US planes dropped two 500lb (230kg) bombs on Zarqawi's safe house near the city of Baquba on Wednesday.
Zarqawi had tried to move off the stretcher where he had been placed by Iraqi police, Maj Gen Caldwell said.
"Everybody resecured him back onto the stretcher, but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he had received from this air strike," he said.
'Mumbled'
Zarqawi had "mumbled something indistinguishable but it was very short", the US spokesman added.
When US troops got there, they had made an identification of Zarqawi by distinguishing marks on his body and "some kind of visual, facial recognition", he said.
"We do not know" why he had survived the initial strike, he said.
The US struck Zarqawi's safe house at 1815 (1415 GMT) on Wednesday after receiving specific tip-offs from within Zarqawi's organisation, officials had earlier said.
The US military had displayed images of the face of the militant leader hours after his death was announced on Thursday.
Major Gen Caldwell said they had "made a conscious decision that we were going to clean... his face up" for the photographs that were released.
