Officials: Al Qaeda in Iraq leaders killed

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- The two most senior leaders of al
Qaeda in Iraq have been killed in a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation,
officials announced Monday. The deaths of Abu Ayyub al-Masri and
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi deal "a potentially devastating blow" to the
terrorist group, the U.S. military said. Vice President Joe Biden said the killing of the two leaders shows the growing strength of Iraqi security forces. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the Sunday strike "broke al Qaeda's backbone." "The
death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to
al Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency," U.S.
Forces-Iraq Commander Gen. Raymond Odierno said in a news release. Al-Masri
was military leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Baghdadi was leader of the
Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group that includes al Qaeda in
Iraq. The U.S. military said al-Baghdadi held the title "Prince of the
Faithful."



























var currExpandable = "expand1";



var currExpandableHeight = 360;





[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]Video: Biden: Al-Qaeda dealt 'devastating' blow
var mediaObj = new Object();
mediaObj.type = 'video';
mediaObj.contentId = '';
mediaObj.source = '/video/us/2010/04/19/bts.wh.biden.al.qaeda.deaths.cnn';
mediaObj.source = mediaObj.source.replace('/video/','');














mediaObj.lgImage = $(currExpandable).select('img.box-image')[0].readAttribute('src');
mediaObj.lgImageX = 640;
mediaObj.lgImageY = currExpandableHeight;
mediaObj.origImageX = $(currExpandable).select('img.box-image')[0].readAttribute('width');
mediaObj.origImageY = $(currExpandable).select('img.box-image')[0].readAttribute('height');



mediaObj.contentType = 'Video';







CNN.expElements.expand1Store = mediaObj;




















var cnnRelatedTopicKeys = [];

RELATED TOPICS

• 
  
  cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Al_Qaeda_in_Iraq');
  [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]
  
• 
  
  cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Iraq_War');
  [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]
  
• 
  
  cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Islamic_State_of_Iraq');
  [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]
  

Al-Masri's assistant and al-Baghdadi's
son, who were also involved in terrorist activities, were killed as
well, the U.S. military said. A U.S. soldier was killed during the assault when a U.S. helicopter crashed, the military said in the news release. Al-Maliki said the operation thwarted a plan by al Qaeda in Iraq to attack churches in Baghdad "in the last two days." The
soldiers found messages of communication between the leaders of al
Qaeda in Iraq and top figures in al Qaeda -- including leader Osama bin
Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. The operation took place
Sunday in al-Tharthar, north of Baghdad, al-Maliki said at a news
conference Monday. It involved missile strikes and ground forces. An Iraqi intelligence cell pursuing high-level leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq got the intelligence for the operation, he said. The two men were hiding in a hole within a house, where their bodies were eventually found by security forces, he said. The
arrests of many other senior leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq in the last
couple of days led authorities to discover the safe house, al-Maliki
said. Al-Tharthar is in Salahuddin province, just southwest of Tikrit. There
have been previous reports of al-Baghdadi being killed, which turned
out to be false. While other people have operated under the same name,
authorities are confident the man killed Sunday is Abu Omar
al-Baghdadi, al-Maliki said Monday. [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]
was once reported captured, which turned out to be inaccurate. Al-Masri
became the head of al Qaeda in Iraq in 2006 after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
was killed in a U.S. attack. The U.S. military said U.S. forces
supported the Iraqi security forces in Sunday's operation. "A series of
Iraqi-led joint operations conducted over the last week resulted in the
Iraqi Forces with U.S. support executing a nighttime raid on the AQI
[al Qaeda in Iraq] leaders' safe house. The joint security team
identified both AQI members, and the terrorists were killed after
engaging the security team," the U.S. military said in a statement.
Security forces arrested 16 "additional suspected criminal associates of the warranted individuals," the military said.

Thank you for you begining
and it is avery good begin
forward for ever

Thanks

Good job