Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued a “final warning” to the Iraqi government to halt the US-Iraqi crackdown against his followers or he would declare “open war until liberation”.

A US military helicopter fired a guided missile to kill a wanted al-Qaida in Iraq leader from Saudi Arabia who was responsible for the bombing deaths of five American soldiers, a spokesman said today.

US-led forces conducting a crackdown on al-Qaida killed a senior member of the insurgent group who was responsible for the high-profile kidnappings of several Westerners, a military spokesman said today.

US and Iraqi officials are still trying to confirm reports that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was killed by rivals north of Baghdad.

Iraqi officials have received reports that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has been killed north of Baghdad but the information has not been confirmed, the chief government spokesman said today.

Al-Qaida in Iraq’s leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri has been killed in a gun battle between militants north of Baghdad, news reports said today.

AT LEAST 118 Shi’ite pilgrims were slaughtered in attacks across Iraq yesterday, sparking fears of reprisals that could frustrate efforts by Iraqi and US forces to quell sectarian violence.

The US military today said it has no indication that the al Qaida in Iraq leader was killed or wounded in a raid north of Baghdad, while an Iraqi army officer said his deputy has been jailed south of Baghdad for a week.

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was wounded and an aide was killed in a clash today with Iraqi forces north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry spokesman said.

US-led forces captured a senior al-Qaida leader who was responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths and housed foreign fighters who carried out suicide bombings, the US military said today.

Al Qaida’s leader in Iraq today vowed his fighters will never rest until they have blown up the White House and reached Jerusalem.

Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a new audio tape today to have mobilised 12,000 fighters in the waitron country.

A man claiming to be an Iraqi Islamic insurgent has released a video tape urging Osama bin Laden to replace the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq with an Iraqi national.

Iraqi officials are doing DNA tests on a killed militant to determine if he is al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the deputy interior minister said today.

Al-Arabiya TV is reporting the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has been killed, citing unidentified security sources.

SECURITY forces are closing in on the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, a senior Iraqi official said yesterday, showing a captured video of the terror chief teaching followers how to build a car bomb.

Security forces are closing in on the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, a senior official said today, showing a captured video of the terror chief teaching followers how to build a car bomb.

The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq urged Muslims to make the holy month of Ramadan a “month of holy war,” in an audiotape posted on Islamic website today.

THE largest Sunni Arab bloc in Iraq’s parliament said yesterday it was suspending its participation in the legislature until a kidnapped colleague was released, dealing a blow to efforts to involve the disaffected minority in the political process.

Iraq released a most-wanted list of 41 names today, including Saddam Hussein’s wife and eldest daughter, as well as the new leader of al Qaida in Iraq and one of the ousted president’s closest allies.

A rubbish collector and a Baghdad University security chief were killed today - among the latest victims of seemingly random violence in Iraq as Prime Minister Nouri Maliki steps up his efforts to bring insurgents into the political process.

The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq killed the two US soldiers abducted last week, an umbrella group for Iraqi insurgents said in a web statement posted today.

A BLUEPRINT for trying to start a war between the United States and Iran was among a “huge treasure” of documents found in the hideout of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraqi officials said yesterday.

US and Iraqi forces killed 104 insurgents in hundreds of raids since last week’s killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and the American death toll in the war in Iraq hit 2,500, the US military said today.

Terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still alive when Iraqi police arrived at a site that was bombed by US forces, a top-level spokesman for American military forces said today.