European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday called Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death "a big defeat" to al-Qaida and urged violence to be ended in Iraq.

"It is an obvious big defeat to al-Qaida. What we hope is that we can go on working with all partners so as to make violence some sort of past," Barroso told a press conference here.

"Now we are eager to work with new the Iraqi government, which was democratically elected, and we are eager to help them to address challenges. One of the challenges is to put an end to violence in this country," he added.

Earlier on Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that Zarqawi -- the most wanted insurgent in Iraq -- had been killed.

Source: Xinhua