Death of al-Qaida in Iraq leader still not confirmed

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.

The statement by spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh followed a welter of reports from other Iraqi officials that Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been killed – either by rivals in al-Qaida or Sunni tribesmen who had turned against the extremists.

Iraqi officials have rushed out similar reports in the past, only to acknowledge later they were inaccurate.

US officials said they could not confirm the reported death.

US Ambassador Ryan Crocker told reporters that American authorities in Baghdad were seeking more information.

Iraqi officials released conflicting accounts of who killed al-Masri, when and where.

It was also unclear whether Iraqi authorities had the body.

Al-Dabbagh told Al-Arabiya that word of al-Masri’s purported death was based on “intelligence information,” adding that “DNA tests should be done and we have to bring someone to identify the body.”

However, he refused to say unequivocally whether Iraqi security forces have the body, citing security restrictions.

“We will make an official announcement when we confirm that this person is Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The Iraqi government will work to identify him,” he said.

The Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig Gen Abdul-Karim Khalaf, told state television that authorities did not have absolute confirmation that al-Masri was dead but that reports indicated he was killed by fellow al-Qaida members in an ambush at the Safi bridge north of Baghdad.

“Sources of the Interior Ministry witnessed the killing of this criminal,” Khalaf said.

However, deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Zurufi told reporters that al-Masri was hunted down and killed by a joint American-Iraqi force near Taji “after three days of observation and chasing by our troops.”

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said that al-Masri was believed to have been killed Monday in the Taji area north of Baghdad. Khalaf and others said al-Masri was killed today.

“Preliminary reports said he was killed yesterday in Taji area in a battle involving a couple of insurgent groups, possibly some tribal people who have problems with al-Qaida. These reports have to be confirmed.”

Tribesmen in the western Anbar province have been fighting al-Qaida for weeks and claim to have killed dozens of them. US spokesman Lt Col Christopher Garver said the US command was looking into the reports.

“Obviously I hope it’s true,” Garver said, pointing out that previous Iraqi claims had proven false. “We want to be very careful before we confirm or deny anything like that.”

Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, took over leadership of the terror network and was endorsed by Osama bin Laden after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed last June in a US airstrike in Diyala province.

During a teleconference with reporters in Washington, Crocker said al-Masri’s death would be a positive development but downplayed suggestions it would have any immediate impact on al-Qaida activity in Iraq.

“Clearly taking a major terrorist off the battlefield is an important thing and if we can confirm it, if this did happen, without question it would be a significant and positive development,” Crocker said.

“That said, I would not expect it to in any way bring to end al-Qaida’s activities in Iraq. We saw the organisation adjust to the death of Zarqawi. My sense is that it is a now a very decentralised terrorist effort, so while removing its current head would be a good and positive thing, I think we have to expect that we will need to continue dealing with further al-Qaida attacks.”

An Iraqi insurgent umbrella group today denied that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq had been killed, saying he was alive and safe, according to an internet statement.

“The Islamic State of Iraq reassures the Ummah (nation) that Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, God protect him, is alive and he is still fighting the enemy of God,” the Islamic State said in a written statement posted on a website commonly used by insurgents.

Several reports today said Abu Hamza al-Muhajer – who US and Iraqi forces have identified by another pseudonym, Abu Ayyub al-Masri – had been killed – either by rivals in al-Qaida or Sunni tribesmen who had turned against the extremists.