The military said Iraqi and U.S. forces killed Sabah Hilal Al Shihawi
and Abu Amar Al Masri on May 2 in an operation north of Baghdad. Al Shihawi
was identified as a religious adviser to Al Qaida Information Minister
Muharib Abdul Latif Al Jubouri. Al Masri was termed a foreign fighter
facilitator.
The May 4 announcement marked the second day in a row that the U.S.
military reported the death of a senior Al Qaida operative. On the previous
day, the military said had killed Al Jubouri in a raid in Taji, north of
Baghdad, Middle East Newsline reported.
Officials said five senior Al Qaida insurgents were killed in Operation
Rat Trap. The operation, begun on May 2, was meant to eliminate the Al Qaida
leadership north of Baghdad.
Al Masri was said to have been a foreign fighter who helped the
insurgency in Iraq. Officials said Al Masri and Al Shihawi were identified
by associates.
"This is what Al Qaida in Iraq members can expect when they target the
Iraqi people and security forces that protect them," U.S. military spokesman
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said.
The U.S. military has still not confirmed the assertion of the Iraqi
government that Al Qaida network chief Abu Ayoub Al Masri and Islamic State
of Iraq chief Abu Omar Al Baghdadi were killed last week. The military said
it was not certain that Al Baghdadi ever existed.
Officials said the Al Masri reported killed by the United States was not
related to the Al Qaida network chief. On Saturday, an audio of the Al Qaida
chief was posted on an Islamic website.
The killing of Al Qaida commanders has hampered the flow of insurgents
and weapons from Syria. They said several Al Qaida strongholds in the
western Iraqi province of Anbar have been dismantled.
On Saturday, however, at least 16 Iraq Army recruits were killed when a
suicide bomber blew himself up at a recruitment center near Abu Ghraib. The
Iraqi government has sought to increase security forces from the current
10,000 to 21,000 in Anbar.
"There's little doubt that there was a pipeline coming through Syria
that was enabling these people to get into the fight," U.S. Central Command
chief Adm. William Fallon said. "But in the last couple of months, the
significant turn to the government and coalition side by people in Anbar I
believe has got to be having a detrimental effect on this, because that's
the conduit, if you would, where these people were coming."
