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U.S.: top Al-Qaeda leader killed in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: The U.S. military said on Saturday it has killed an Al-Qaeda leader suspected of masterminding one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad as well as recent bombings and the 2006 videotaped execution of a Russian official.

American troops also killed the man’s wife as they tried to capture him on Friday in Azamiyah, in Baghdad, said the military. Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, allegedly directed the cell believed to be responsible for nearly simultaneous car bomb and suicide attacks on Thursday, according to the statement.

The police and hospital officials have said some two dozen people were killed in Thursday’s attacks targeting two Shia mosques in Baghdad. The victims were attending prayers marking Eid ul-Fitr. Such attacks have raised fears that Al-Qaeda is trying to provoke Sunni-Shia reprisal killings. General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Shias were “showing very much restraint” and promised to continue targeting the Al-Qaeda. “I think we’ve made some good inroads inside of the network that was doing this,” he said after a ceremony in Diwaniyah marking the departure of Polish troops from Iraq. “I feel confident that we will continue to go after them and make it very difficult for them to continue,” he added.

Poland sent combat troops into Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition and had 2,300 troops deployed there at its peak. That has been reduced to about 900, who are being pulled out this month. The White House has thanked Warsaw and other departing allies, saying their departure was made possible by security gains and the increased capability of Iraqi forces.

Al-Zubaydi was one of the most senior militants to be killed by U.S. forces as they seek to shore up recent security gains that have driven the level of violence to its lowest point in more than four years. His death will be a major blow to Al-Qaeda in Iraq even as the group’s recruiting efforts have been “severely curbed” by a decision by many Sunnis to join forces with the Americans in the fight against it, said military spokesman Rear Admiral Patrick Driscoll.

The military also blamed Al-Zubaydi for several car bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad’s main Shia district of Sadr City in 2006 and 2007, including a series of blasts that killed more than 200 people on November 23, 2006. That was one of the deadliest attacks amid rampant sectarian violence and attacks against U.S. forces.

Al-Zubaydi also was believed to have planned and participated in abductions and videotaped executions, including one in which he was seen shooting one of four kidnapped Russians. The military also said Al-Zubaydi was reportedly responsible for a May 1 car bombing that killed a U.S. soldier in Baghdad, as well as attacks in Salahuddin and Diyala provinces to the north of the capital. It said he was originally a member of the Sunni group Ansar al-Islam and joined Al-Qaeda in 2004. He was the terror network’s military “emir” in eastern Baghdad “before taking over responsibility for all terrorist operations there this year,” the military said. — AP

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