Iraq – The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was killed in an internal fight between insurgents north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry spokesman said.
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Brigadier-General Abdul Kareem Khalaf said “we have definite intelligence reports that al Masri was killed today”.
Another source in the ministry also said Masri had been killed. Khalaf said the battle happened near a bridge in the small town of al-Nibayi, north of Baghdad.
Both Khalaf and the other source in the ministry said the authorities did not have Masri’s body.
But the U.S. military said it could not confirm the reports.
“I hope that it is true, but we want to be very careful to make sure,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq.
Masri, who is also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, assumed the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq after Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike in June 2006. [Reuters]
U/D: 11:26
A militant group in Iraq denies reports that the al-Qaida in Iraq leader has been killed.
Just heard on ABC Radio that it nebach wasnt true.
SOURCES TELL ABC NEWS THAT REPORTS OF THE DEATH OF HAMZA AL MASRI, LEADER OF AL QAEDA IN IRAQ, ARE UNCONFIRMED AND PART OF A MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN. DEVELOPING…