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'New al-Qaeda Iraq chief killed'
05/10/2006 10:26 - (SA)
Dubai - Al-Arabiya television reported on Thursday that the new chief of the al-Qaeda network in Iraq, known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri or Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, has been killed.
There was no immediate confirmation.
An Iraqi government official had said on Sunday that Masri's "days are numbered" after showing the first video images of the wanted man, who replaced slain former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
On Friday the al-Qaeda leader had also broadcast an internet audio message threatening a renewed offensive and a campaign to kidnap foreigners.
Succeeded Zarqawi
Masri's identity was first revealed by the US military in July, after the June killing of his predecessor and al-Qaeda in Iraq founder Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born Sunni Muslim extremist.
Masri was described as an Egyptian émigré with an extensive knowledge of explosives. The footage showed a bespectacled man with an Egyptian accent explaining how to a rig a car with bombs.
'Days are numbered'
"I can say we are very close to Abu Ayyub al-Masri and we say to him your days are numbered," Iraqi national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie told a news conference.
"Either your dead body or manacled hands will be brought before justice."
Rubaie had said the purpose of showing the video was to speed his capture and show Iraqis the "foreign" face of violence in the country.
- AFP
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