Cairo, Oct 08: A statement posted today on an Internet
website known as a clearing-house for al-Qaeda material denied
recent speculation that the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq is
dead.
Reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been killed surfaced
after a raid Tuesday that killed four militants in the western
Iraqi town of Haditha. Al-Masri is believed to have taken over
al-Qaeda in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed June 7
in a US airsrike.
On Thursday, the US military announced it was conducting
DNA tests on a slain militant to determine if he is the leader
of al-Qaeda in Iraq. However, US and Iraqi officials said it
did not appear that the militant was al-Masri, who also is
known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer.
The today statement signed by the Mujahedeen Shura
council - an umbrella organisation of insurgent groups,
including al-Qaida in Iraq - said "al-Qaeda in Iraq and the
rest of the brothers in the Mujahedeen Sura Council are in
their best shape."
"The group is getting stronger day after day and our sheik
Abu Hamza al-Muhajer is in his best health, plotting for
battles," the statement said.
US officials said al-Masri joined an extremist group led
by al-Qaeda's no 2 official Ayman al-Zawahri in 1982. He
joined al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and
trained as a car bombing expert before travelling to Iraq
after the US-led invasion in 2003.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, October 09, 2006, 00:00