Posted on 05/03/2007 2:34:39 AM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
BAGHDAD, May 3 (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed the head of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, an al Qaeda-led militant group that has claimed many major attacks in the country, Iraq's deputy interior minister said on Thursday.Hussein Kamal said Abu Omar al-Baghdadi had been killed in a battle north of Baghdad. He declined to say when but said authorities had recovered Baghdadi's body.
"Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was killed north of Baghdad by Iraqi and American forces. He died as a result of wounds sustained in clashes. The Interior Ministry has his body to carry out further checks," Kamal told Reuters by telephone.
U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver declined to comment but said a news conference would be held later on Thursday to announce the "success" of an operation against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
~ snip ~
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
Physical evidence is always good.
Thank you Hal.
That does sound rather promising.
Know if we get confirmation on al-Masri . . . .
Now not know . . . sheesh . . .
Apparently U.S. forces will be holding a presser later today:
U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver declined to comment on the Interior Ministry’s claim but said a news conference would be held later on Thursday about the “success” of an operation against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
He stressed that the topic would not be Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq — which is the main al Qaeda network in the country.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03371351.htm
Source: Al-Qaida media head in Iraq killed
Al-Iraqi, aka al-Baghdadi?, possibly "slaughtered by a knife".
I am suspecting Al Iraqi was second in command under Baghdadi...
At least a guy called abu abdullah was.. Al iraqi, I guess just means the Iraqi, or from Iraq or something like that.
Perhaps we have got three men down :-)
Or reports are being mixed up.
At least this time there will be a press conference from U.S. forces about some success obtained against Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Send this news to Nancy Pelosi, Johnny Murtha, and Harry boy Reid. They think al Qaeda is winning. Better include Bill Buckley, Bob Novak, Pat Buchanan, and George Will too.
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&langpair=ar%7Cen&u=http://208.101.48.176/~alshaf3y/vb/showthread.php%3Ft%3D10130&prev=/language_tools
Odd that baghdadi has not posted refuting his own death....
You mean terrorists are now cutting off the heads of other terrorists with arm size knives?
PBUH indeed!
Maybe he’s busy...or maybe he’s dead.
Thanks Harwood for the post.
Yes, I saw that. I wasn’t suggesting that the presser was going to address al-Masri. I was just engaging in a little hopeful thinking that perhaps later there will be some news on the al-Masri story. I suppose even if a body is or has been recovered it may be some time before there’s any word one way or the other.
Published: 5/3/07, 7:05 AM EDT
By KIM GAMEL
BAGHDAD (AP) - A senior Iraqi official said Thursday that the leader of an al-Qaida front group had been killed in a clash with Iraqi security forces north of Baghdad, but the U.S. military said it could not confirm the report.
Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal of the Interior Ministry said Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was killed Wednesday night in a battle with security forces north of Baghdad. Al-Baghdadi heads the Islamic State of Iraq, which includes al-Qaida and seven smaller groups.
Kamel said al-Baghdadi's body was in Iraqi custody and would undergo DNA testing.
It was the second time this week that the Iraqis have reported the alleged death of a major al-Qaida figure. The U.S. military has urged caution in both cases.
"We'll go back and take a look at it as we always do when these reports come out," military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said Thursday.
State-run Iraqiya television showed photos of a bloated body in a wooden box in the back of a pickup truck that it said was that of al-Baghdadi, but that could not independently be confirmed.
Iraqi officials have released similar reports about the killing or capture of top insurgent figures, including al-Baghdadi, only to acknowledge later that the claims were inaccurate.
In March, the Iraqi military announced al-Baghdadi had been captured in a raid west of Baghdad and had confessed to his identity.
The Iraqis later acknowledged the report was wrong.
On Tuesday, officials reported the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, had been killed by rivals north of Baghdad but the body has not been recovered.
“DNA TESTING...”
Thank you for the article blam.
Yeah, the whole Al Masri story seems to have faded away.
Unfortunately, it is not the first time after the Iraqis have announced news such as this.
Hopefully there will be some positive news on that one forthcoming eventually...
Cheers.
These things happen in threes, so Fat Boy al-Sadr’s next . . .
Might as well throw Bill O’Reilly in there as well...what an idiot
Thanks. These honorifics are a pain in the posterior.
Thanks for the link.
What I found interesting was “a police source from Salahudin province told Xinhua on Thursday”
The Chineese paper apparently has a reporter there.
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