BAGHDAD — The assistant to Al Qaida's new network chief has been
killed in a foiled insurgency strike.
Iraqi security sources said a lieutenant of Al Qaida network chief Abu
Ayoub Al Masri was found killed in a car on its way to an insurgency strike.
The sources said a bomb inside the car blew up prematurely and killed the
lieutenant and three other Al Qaida operatives.
Officials identified the Al Masri aide as Mansour Sulayman
Mansour Khalifi Al Mashhadani. The U.S. military confirmed the killing,
reported to have taken place in Yusufiyah, west of Baghdad on June 19.
U.S.-led coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said Al
Mashhadani was one of the five leading members of the Al Qaida organization.
Caldwell said Al Mashhadani was Al Qaida's spiritual leader and a close
associate of Al Zarqawi. The spokesman said an Al Qaida cell leader was also
killed.
Al Mashhadani was captured in 2004 by the U.S. military, Caldwell said.
But he said the sheik was released because he was not deemed a high-value
insurgent.
The United States has determined that Al Masri was appointed the
successor to Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi in wake of his death in a U.S. air strike
on June 7 near Baqubah. Al Masri was described as an Egyptian bomb expert
trained in Afghanistan and close to Al Qaida's No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri.
Iraqi state television reported that the U.S. military penetrated Al
Zarqawi's cell through the recruitment of an aide. The television said the
unidentified aide provided information that led to the location of Al
Zarqawi's safe house.
Al Qaida in Iraq has been part of a five-member coalition termed the
Mujahedeen Shura Council. The council, led by an Iraqi identified as
Abdullah Rashid Al Baghdadi, has claimed responsibility for several suicide
strikes as well as the abduction of two U.S. soldiers and four Russian
diplomats. The two soldiers were found dead on Tuesday.
"The fact that we took out Zarqawi and decapitated the outfit doesn't
mean that it will not have the ability to regenerate," Caldwell said.
