'No indication' al-Qaida in Iraq leader killed or wounded

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.

Interior ministry spokesman, Brig Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said this morning that terror leader Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was wounded and an aide killed yesterday in a clash with Iraqi forces near Balad, north of Baghdad.

Khalaf declined to say how Iraqi forces knew al-Masri had been injured, and deputy interior minister Maj Gen Hussein Ali Kamal later said he could not confirm the information.

But spokesman Lt Col Christopher Garver said the US military had no information to corroborate the account.

“We do not believe that he was either killed or wounded last night,” Garver said.

An Iraqi army officer also said al-Masri’s aide, identified as Abu Abdullah al-Majemaai, had been detained on February 9 and remained in custody in a jail near Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.