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Say "Iraqi officials", who have been wrong far more often than they've been right about such stories. We'll see. Interesting that he was rung up during a fight between AQI and another Sunni insurgent group, which lessens the credibility of the initial report but is encouraging if actually true.
Just heard on NPR that another source in the Interior Ministry denies the report.
If an arab told me the sun was shining @ 12 noon, I'd walk outside to see.
Some additional details. Still not verified.
Quote:
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The Iraqi ministers of defense and interior told reporters there was reliable information that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the nom de guerre of a man believed to have taken over the group's leadership after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in fighting near Taji. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh confirmed those reports but said DNA testing would be done to verify Masri's death.
"It is the beginning of the end for al-Qaeda in Iraq," Dabbagh said on Iraqi television. He said Masri was killed in a clash with fighters loyal to tribal leaders in Anbar province in western Iraq.
But U.S. military officials said they could not confirm the reports and noted that Masri and other al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders have been incorrectly reported killed in the past. American soldiers are waiting for evidence to verify the identity, a process that could take several days, said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.
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Al-Qaeda in Iraq is believed to be a decentralized organization linking largely autonomous cells of fighters. Even if Masri is dead, "I would not expect it in any way to bring an end to al-Qaeda's activities in Iraq," U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told reporters ...
MNF-Iraq confirms AQI "Information Minister" killed. Possibility that this individual has been confused with other AQI figures.
Quote:
U.S.-led forces killed a senior al-Qaida in Iraq operative believed responsible for the kidnappings of Westerners, including a Christian Science Monitor reporter and a slain peace worker from Virginia, a military spokesman said Thursday.
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U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the killing of Muharib Abdul-Latif al-Jubouri, described as al-Qaida's information minister, had apparently led to confused reports that al-Qaida's top leader or the head of an umbrella group of Sunni insurgents had been killed.
Caldwell said the military had conducted numerous operations against al-Qaida in Iraq in the last six days but does not have the bodies of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri and did not know "of anybody that does."
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On Thursday, mourners gathered at al-Jubouri's house in Duluiyah, 45 miles north of Baghdad, as a huge funeral tent went up in the street, police said.
The Interior Ministry said earlier that al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, had been killed and released photos of what it said was the body of the leader of the umbrella group, which includes al-Qaida.
But Caldwell said al-Baghdadi's death could not be confirmed.
"If that person even exists, again, we have nobody in our possession or know of anybody that does, alive or dead, that is going through any kind of testing or analysis at this point with respect to those two individuals," he said.
On Tuesday, officials said al-Masri, the head of al-Qaida in Iraq, had been killed by rivals north of Baghdad, but the body had not been recovered.
Regarding al-Masri, Caldwell said "we in fact do not have in our possession nor do we know of anybody that has anybody or person at this time that we think is him."
"His overall status whether he is dead or alive is actually unknown to us at this point," he added ...