Al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was killed in an American air strike on an isolated safe house north of Baghdad on Wednesday, top United States and Iraqi officials said today.

At a joint news conference with Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nuri Kamal al Maliki, the top American military commander in Iraq, General George Casey Jr, said Zarqawi’s body had been positively identified by fingerprints, ‘‘facial recognition’’ and ‘‘known scars’’. He said seven of Zarqawi’s associates had also been killed in the strike.

The announcement of Zarqawi’s death, shortly before noon today in Baghdad, appeared to mark a major watershed in the war. With a $25 million bounty the US had on his head, the Jordan-born Zarqawi has been the most wanted man in Iraq for his leadership of Islamic terrorist groups that have carried out many of the most brutal attacks of the war, including scores of suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.

‘‘Today, we have managed to put an end to Zarqawi,’’ said a beaming Maliki, who took office three weeks ago at the head of Iraq’s first full-term government since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. He said the death should be a warning to other insurgent leaders. ‘‘They should stop now,’’ he said. ‘‘They should review their situation and resort to logic while there is still time.’’

American and Iraqi officials all muted their high spirits today with a recognition that violence is bound to continue, a point underscored by a midday blast in eastern Baghdad that killed at least a dozen people, news services reported. ‘‘Unfortunately, this kind of violence has become routine,’’ Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in a televised interview.

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