There were conflicting reports on the fate of the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said he was killed on Tuesday in an internal fight between militants north of Baghdad. Brigadier-General Abdul Kareem Khalaf told Reuters "we have definite intelligence reports that al Masri was killed today."
Another source in the ministry also confirmed Masri had been killed. Recent press reports have indicated that there has been growing friction between al Qaeda fighters and other Sunni groups in Iraq, particularly over al Qaeda's indiscriminate killing of civilians.
However, a resistance coalition insisted he was alive. Similar reports in the past proved inaccurate. It denied the al-Qaeda leader had been killed, saying he was alive and safe, according to an Internet statement. "The Islamic State of Iraq reassures the Ummah (nation) that Sheik Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, God protect him, is alive and he is still fighting the enemy of God," the umbrella group said on an Islamist Web site.
Masri, an Egyptian, assumed the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq after Jordanian born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike in June 2006.
The U.S. military has described Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, as a close Zarqawi associate. Washington has a $5 million bounty on Masri's head. U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told reporters that American authorities in Baghdad were seeking more information.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, gunmen ambushed travelers on a highway leading from Baghdad to Shiite areas in the south. A government official reported that 14 people were killed and mortar rounds slammed into an area near the Iraqi prime minister's office in the U.S.-controlled Green Zone.
The attacks began at 6:45 a.m., when gunmen aimed at a minibus, killing eleven Shiites and wounding three, according to the AP. About 45 minutes later, a group of gunmen standing on the highway opened fire at civilian cars, killing three people and wounding five near Latifiyah, 6 miles north of the initial attack.
No casualties were reported in the mortar attack; however, it heightened security concerns in an area that is home to the Iraqi government headquarters, U.S. and British embassies, as well as thousands of American troops.
