British forces killed top al-Qaida man

DNA tests have confirmed that a man shot and killed by British forces in Iraq was the leading al-Qaida terrorist who embarrassed the US military by making an unprecedented escape from a maximum-security military prison in Afghanistan, the US command said today.

Omar al-Farouq was shot and killed on September 25 after he opened fire on British forces during a raid on his home in Basra, 340 miles south-east of Baghdad.