Al Masri reportedly killed.
I hope this is true this time...
happytime
Iraq probes reports of al-Masri's death
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BAGHDAD - Iraqi officials have received reports that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was killed by Sunni tribesmen, but the chief government spokesman said Tuesday the information has not been confirmed.
The statement by spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh followed a welter of reports from other Iraqi officials that Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been killed. Iraqi officials have released similar reports in the past, only to acknowledge later they were inaccurate.
U.S. officials said they could not confirm the reported death.
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."
But he refused to say unequivocally whether Iraqi security forces have the body, citing security restrictions. Accounts were vague about when and where al-Masri supposedly died.
"We will make an official announcement when we confirm that this person is Abu Ayyub al-Masri," he said. "The Iraqi government will work to identify him."
U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said the U.S. 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."
Iraq Probes Reports of Al-Masri's Death
May 01, 2007 at 8:50:6 PDT
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An umbrella group of Iraqi insurgents denied that the al-Qaida leader was killed, saying he was alive and safe, according to an Internet statement.
"The Islamic State of Iraq reassures the Ummah (nation) that Sheik 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 Web site commonly used by insurgents.
A series of reports on Tuesday said Abu Hamza al-Muhajer - whom U.S. 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.
Iraqi government officials released conflicting accounts of when and where al-Masri was purportedly killed, and who is supposed to have killed him.
It was also unclear whether Iraqi authorities had a 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."
But he refused to say unequivocally whether Iraqi security forces have the body, citing security restrictions. Accounts were vague about when and where al-Masri supposedly died.
"We will make an official announcement when we confirm that this person is Abu Ayyub al-Masri," he said. "The Iraqi government will work to identify him."
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.