A senior al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Mansur Sulayman Mansur Khalif, also known as Sheikh Mansur, was killed Friday when coalition forces targeted a vehicle in which he and two others were riding, military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said Tuesday. Mansur led various cells in the Yusufiya area south of Baghdad, Caldwell said.
Military: Senior member of al Qaeda network killed - CNN 6/20/2006
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A man described as a "very senior member of the al Qaeda network" was killed by coalition forces Friday, U.S. military officials said Tuesday.
Mansur Sulayman Mansur Khalif, also known as Sheikh Mansur, was killed when coalition forces targeted a vehicle in which he and two others were riding, spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said Tuesday. "They attempted to flee. Coalition forces pursued them and during that time engaged the vehicle and destroyed it."
Mansur, he said, was a leader of al Qaeda in Iraq "with excellent religious, military and leadership credentials within that organization." He was tied to the senior leadership of the organization, Caldwell said, and had relationships with leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier this month, and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who the military believes replaced al-Zarqawi as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. (Posted 10:54 a.m.)