May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was killed north of Baghdad during a struggle among members of the group, the Iraqi government said.
"We have strong intelligence that he was killed in clashes today'' near the town of Taji, Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abu al-Kareem Khalaf said in a telephone interview aired on state television. "The clashes took place between groups within al-Qaeda. Our forces were not involved.''
Al-Masri was identified as the new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq on an Islamist Web site last year, shortly after his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. air strike northeast of Baghdad on June 7.
The U.S.-led coalition said in an e-mailed statement that it was unable to confirm al-Masri's death.
The U.S. military blames the mainly Sunni Muslim al-Qaeda network for attacks on Iraqi civilians, including the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra that worsened violence between the majority Shiites and the Sunnis.
"It is probably public enemy No. 1,'' General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said of al-Qaeda's network in the country, at a news conference on April 26.
Al-Masri's death may not have an impact on the organization, Peter R. Neumann, director of the Defence Studies Department at King's College London, said in a telephone interview.
"Al-Qaeda in Iraq has established itself to such a degree it doesn't need one person alone,'' Neumann said. "Someone else will take over. They have semiautonomous factions and it will not make a big difference to them.''
----------------------------------------
Without more proof it is hard to say he is dead...but I wonder if the IAI had anything to do with it. Remember that were quite unset with Al-Qaeda after it targeted some of its members.
UPDATE (5/3/07) : The accuracy of this report has been questioned due to release of new information.
No comments:
Post a Comment