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

Iraqi security forces today said they have arrested the head of an al-Qaida cell in a western Iraqi city, as the US military announced the deaths of two soldiers and a Marine.

A suspect killed in a shootout with Pakistani agents this week was a senior al-Qaida operative from Syria behind militant attacks in Pakistan’s tribal regions and against US forces in eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan’s interior minister said today.