Al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders killed, U.S. and Iraqi officials say

[darrels joy]

Al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders killed, U.S. and Iraqi officials say

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, April 19, 2010; 2:12 PM


BAGHDAD -- Two leaders of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq have been killed in an airstrike carried out by American troops, Iraqi and U.S. officials announced Monday.

The deaths of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, as the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq is known, and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the alias of the head of an umbrella group that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq, should disrupt insurgent attacks inside the country, officials said. Their slayings could also provide Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with a decisive political boost at a critical time.

"The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency," Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, said in a statement. "There is still work to do, but this is a significant step forward in ridding Iraq [of] terrorists."

The Saturday night raid was carried out a few miles southwest of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town, U.S. officials said, after a series of Iraqi-led operations led to a safe house used by the insurgent leaders. An American soldier was killed during the operation when a helicopter crashed.

Masri and Baghdadi were killed after "engaging the security team," the U.S. military said. Maliki said their bodies were found in a ditch. "We have found a lot of documents and hand-written letters" that implicated the men, the prime minister added.

Security forces also killed Masri's assistant and one of Baghdadi's sons, the U.S. military said. Iraqi troops took 16 men into custody after the raid.

In Washington, Vice President Biden declared that the operation demonstrated the growing strength of the Iraqi security forces. "The Iraqis led this operation," Biden told reporters, adding that Iraqis also gathered the intelligence that led to the targeting. "In short, the Iraqis have taken the lead."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs described the United States as playing a supporting role.

Masri, an Egyptian, rose to the helm of the al-Qaeda in Iraq organization after former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006. Masri reportedly moved to Iraq after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to help form the Iraqi branch of the organization.

The U.S. military did not provide a real name for Masri, who also went by the alias Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. Officials in Washington said in 2006 that Masri's real name was Yusuf al-Dardiri, The Washington Post reported. The U.S. military identified Baghdadi on Monday as Hamid Dawud Muhammad Khalil al-Zawi.

While Masri joined Egyptian radical groups as a young man and became a protégé of Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri -- the No. 2 man in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network -- less was known about Baghdadi. Allegedly born in Iraq, he was seen by some U.S. intelligence officials as a fictionalized character, invented to bolster the standing among Iraqis of the umbrella group, the Islamic State of Iraq.

Baghdadi was known by several other aliases and was reported on several occasions to have been killed or captured.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq emerged as the largest and deadliest insurgent group in Iraq years ago, spawned by widespread dissatisfaction in Sunni communities after Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, was driven from power by U.S. invasion forces in April 2003.

The group was significantly weakened after the U.S. troop surge in 2007. But recent attacks, which killed hundreds of people, showed that the Islamic State of Iraq umbrella group remained powerful and raised questions about the Iraqi government's ability to maintain order as U.S. troops withdraw.

In the past, Iraqi officials had announced the capture or killing of top al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders who turned out to be free and alive.

The Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for a series of powerful recent attacks on government buildings, hotels, embassies and other targets. The group said it sees the Shiite-led Iraqi government as an illegitimate byproduct of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

Recent audio messages posted on insurgent Web sites have been attributed to Baghdadi. In the statements, the organization has vowed to continue attacking symbols of the state and entities that support it. The group had threatened to derail the parliamentary elections that were held March 7.

Maliki has questioned the results of the elections, in which a Sunni-backed bloc won a slim plurality of seats.

Special correspondents K.I. Ibrahim and Aziz Alwan in Baghdad and staff writer Anne E. Kornblut in Washington contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...901693_pf.html

[darrels joy]

Third Iraq al-Qaeda leader killed

US and Iraqi forces have killed a third al-Qaeda leader the day after the deaths of two senior figures in the terrorist organisation were announced.



Published: 6:53PM BST 20 Apr 2010

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi (Lt) and Abu Ayyub al-Masri died on Sunday Photo: AP



Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri were killed in a joint operation Sunday in what Vice President Joe Biden called a "potentially devastating blow" to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The joint forces quickly followed that up with a morning raid the following day in which insurgent leader Ahmed al-Obeidi was killed in the northern province of Ninevah,


Maj Gen Qassim al-Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman, said Obeidi was in charge of al-Qaida in Iraq's operations in the provinces of Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Ninevah.

Maj Gen Stephen Lanza, a US military spokesman, said American and Iraqi security forces would be keeping pressure on al-Qaeda. "They're still a threat here, and we will not lose sight of that," he said.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq has remained a dangerous force as the US prepares to withdraw most of its troops. The terror group has launched repeated attacks on civilian targets in Baghdad in an attempt to sow chaos and exploit political deadlock in the wake of the inconclusive March 7 parliamentary elections.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...er-killed.html

[Boats]

Lately - when we've put a hit out for someone - which is suppose to be SECRET - why is it that this SECRET - makes it to local news channels? During WWII they would shoot you or lock you up if you gave out this information. The LEAKS our just terrible. I don't see them doing anything about this. And the MEDIA still goes ahead and puts this data out.


UNLESS - we are purposely leaking this SECRET HIT to them to make - it or them - a little un-nerved that they are on a HIT LIST. Just don't understand why everything makes its way to the MEDIA!!!!

[darrels joy]

People want to show how important they are by knowing secret stuff.

They have to tell someone else the secret stuff so someone will know how important they are.

The news people feed of this by telling them that they know how important they are and that their identity will be hidden form everyone else but people will be trying to figure out who the important person is.

Also, it makes a semi-safe way to attack an idea or policy because of the 1st amendment protection of the news.

Operational Security is not as important as showing that you know important stuff.



Joy