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Al-Qaeda 'on the run' in Iraq
21/01/2008 00:02 - (SA)
Baghdad - Al-Qaeda in Iraq is on the run, forcing its elusive Egyptian-born leader to be more selective about targets and to rely increasingly on suicide bombers, US military intelligence experts said on Sunday.
Current leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri is less ruthless and more selective about his targets than was his predecessor, Jordanian Musab al-Zarqawi - killed in June 2006 - the experts told Western reporters in a background briefing.
The leadership of the jihadist network inside Iraq is dominated by foreigners although most rank and file fighters are Iraqis, said the experts, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Zarqawi was very ruthless and did a lot of massive indiscriminate killing," said one expert. "Masri is more tempered ... and has to be more selective about his targets."
The Egyptian, however, is not to be underestimated.
"He is powerful and very elusive. Very few people have contact with him." Resorting to suicide attacks
The experts declined to speculate on how many al-Qaeda fighters are operating in Iraq, but believed the number to be less than the 10 000 that US commanders gave a year ago.
"It's tough to plan an operation when you're on the run," said one. "They have less mobility, less access to caches and are resorting more and more to suicide attacks as their ability to stage car bombings is eroded."
US military spokesperson Rear Admiral Gregory Smith earlier told a news conference that operations by Iraqi and US forces in 2007 had seen about 2 400 al-Qaeda fighters killed and 8 800 captured.
- AFP
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