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Reports: Leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq killed

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007

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File:Abu Ayyub al-Masri 1.jpg

Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
(Image missing from Commons: image; log)

Reports say that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been killed by Sunni tribesmen in an area just north of Baghdad called Taji during a battle between tribesmen and al-Qaeda militants. Other reports say that he was killed in al-Nibayi, near a bridge where fighting was taking place.

"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-Qaeda. We too have security and intelligence reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri was killed as a result of fighting between insurgents and al Qaeda yesterday near Taji. These reports have to be confirmed," said Barham Sale, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister.

However; despite the reports, the Islamic State of Iraq denied that al-Masri was dead posting a message on a militant website saying, "The Islamic State of Iraq reassures the Ummah on the safety of Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, may God protect him, and that he is still fighting the enemies of God."

According to Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokeman, DNA tests will be performed on the alleged remains.

"We will make an official announcement when we confirm that this person is Abu Ayyub al-Masri. DNA tests should be done and we have to bring someone to identify the body. The Iraqi government will work to identify him," said al-Dabbagh.

However; the United States military has not yet confirmed the reports.

"We are in discussions with the Iraqis over how they obtained this intelligence. If we do have a body, we are going to conduct DNA tests, and that will take several days. If there is no body, that makes it harder. Obviously I hope it's true. We want to be very careful before we confirm or deny anything like that," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq.

Iraqi and U.S. military forces were not involved in the battle.

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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.


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