Al-Masri Reprtedly Dead

[SesameStreet]

He was reportedly killed by a rival Sunni branch of Al Queda in Iraq. Sort of reminds me of one Mob family going after another.

Al Qaeda in Iraq Leader Killed
Last Update: May 1, 2007 3:57 AM


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was killed on Tuesday in an internal fight between insurgents, the Interior Ministry spokesman said, but the U.S. military said it could not confirm the report.

Spokesman Brigadier-General Abdul Kareem Khalaf told Reuters: "We have definite intelligence reports that al Masri was killed today." He said the battle happened near a bridge in the small town of al-Nibayi, north of Baghdad.

Another source in the ministry said Masri had been killed in what he described as "probably score-settling within al Qaeda itself."

Both Khalaf and the ministry source said the authorities did not have Masri's body, but the source added "our people had seen the body."

In February, Interior Ministry sources said Masri had been wounded in a gunbattle north of Baghdad, but those reports turned out not to be true.

Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, said the government was conducting further checks.

"Primary information indicates he was killed, but when you have such a senior figure like Masri you have to do further checks, including a DNA test," Dabbagh told Dubai-based al-Arabiya satellite channel in a telephone interview.

U.S. Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, said the military was also checking the reports.

"I hope that it is true, but we want to be very careful to make sure," Garver said.

TENSIONS AMONG INSURGENTS

There has been increasing friction between Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and other Sunni Arab insurgent groups, particularly over al Qaeda's indiscriminate killing of civilians in Iraq.

If the reports prove to be true, Masri's death would signal a widening split among insurgents.

Masri, who is also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, assumed the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq after Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike in June 2006.

U.S. and Iraqi officials accuse al Qaeda of trying to tip Iraq into full-scale civil war between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs with a campaign of spectacular car bombs attacks that have killed thousands.

Iraqi officials also blame al Qaeda for destroying a holy Shi'ite shrine in Samarra a year ago, an act that unleashed a surge in sectarian bloodletting.

The U.S. military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said last week that al Qaeda was now "probably public enemy number one" in Iraq. The United States has a $5 million bounty on Masri's head.

Masri, an Egyptian, has been described by the U.S. military as a former close Zarqawi associate who trained in Afghanistan and formed al Qaeda's first cell in Baghdad.

Al Qaeda and local Sunni Arab tribes are engaged in a bitter power struggle in the western province of Anbar, an insurgent stronghold.

(Additional reporting by Dean Yates and Waleed Ibrahim)

 

[rgraham666]

The Mafia, Triads and yakuza all got started as insurgent political organizations.

Can't say I'm surprised that the Islamists is following the same route.

 

[R. Richard]

The various factions within the insurgency have radically different goals. Al Qaida, which is not Iraqi, wants civil war in Iraq with many, may thousands of Iraqis dead. The Iraqi factions don't want thousands of Iraqis dead, since they want political power within Iraq and "Vote for me or I kill you" aint gonna' get it done.

It might be noted that the reported battle was between two Sunni political factions. The Sunnis hate the Shias and the Shia's hate the Sunnis. If the Sunnis get into a real internal war, the Shias are just waiting to swoop in and slit the throats of the 'victors.'

It is just a maater of time before some genius among one of the Sunni factions decides to call the US military and says, "Hey guys, Abu is hiding at 123 Terrorist Lane, you are looking for him." Once the US miliitary knows where to find them, terrorists are not difficult to deal with. If the US military has someone who knows how to play tactics, they will carefully wipe out Abu and the boys and then issue a public thank you to Abu Abu, "who tipped us off to the location of the bad guys!" The next phone call is from Abu Abu Abu who just happens to know where Abu Abu is hiding and so on. Of course there will be ambushes, but full force strikes should be able to deal with that sort of thing.

 

[Saiyaman]

At least that's one big rat less to worry about.

 

[Kev H]

At least that's one big rat less to worry about.

Only 5.9 billion to go.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Actually, the report says and Iraqi Army group reported "seeing his body" after the fire fight. However, the body was not recovered and the current claims are this is either wrong or a hoax.