Thursday, May 03, 2007

U.S. says leading al Qaeda figure killed in Iraq




Reuters
Thursday, May 3, 2007; 2:20 PM

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Thursday it had killed a top al Qaeda operative in Iraq whom it accused of involvement in the kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll, peace activist Tom Fox and other foreigners.

U.S. military spokesman Major-General William Caldwell said Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri was the "senior minister of information" for al Qaeda in Iraq.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier-General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf said Jubouri was also Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, a Qaeda-led group which has claimed many major attacks in the country.

But a statement from the group, posted on a Web site used by insurgents, said they were two different men and that Baghdadi was still alive. Jubouri, who the group identified as its spokesman, was killed in an air raid after a clash with "soldiers of the Cross" which lasted eight hours, it said. more



Well if we got him and the reports of Abu Ayyub al-Masri's death proves to be true I'd call it a good week. If we could keep that pace up we'd quickly have one less problem in Iraq.