Al Qa'eda's number 2 in Iraq killed

The US military said a foreign insurgent killed in Mosul this month has been identified as Abu Qaswarah, al Qa'eda's number two in Iraq.

Mosul is considered by US commanders as al Qa'ida's last urban stronghold in Iraq.

BAGHDAD // The US military said today that a foreign insurgent killed in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul this month has been identified as Abu Qaswarah, al Qa'eda's number two in Iraq. "Abu Qaswarah, also known as Abu Sara, was the al Qa'eda in Iraq senior leader of northern Iraq," a military statement said. It said that Abu Qaswarah, a native of Morocco who was killed in a raid in Mosul on Oct 5, had ties to al Qa'eda in Iraq's founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a US air strike in Iraq in June 2006.

"He was responsible for organising and leading al Qa'eda in Iraq efforts in northern Iraq, including operations against Iraqi and coalition targets in Mosul." The US military also described Abu Qaswarah as having trained with al Qa'eda in Afghanistan and been in contact with insurgent leaders in Pakistan. He directed the movement of foreign terrorists into northern Iraq, a position which he took up in 2007, it said.

The attack on the building in Mosul, considered by US commanders as al Qa'eda's last urban stronghold in Iraq, led to the death of four other insurgents as well three women and three children, the military said in an earlier report. "As coalition forces entered the building housing the terrorist, they began receiving small-arms fire. Coalition forces returned fire once engaged," it said. "A terrorist detonated a suicide vest shortly thereafter in the house... Five terrorists along with three women and three children were killed."

Also this month, US forces killed a suspected al Qa'eda militant believed to have planned some of the deadliest bombings in Baghdad and to have killed a group of Russian diplomats in 2006. Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, was killed along with an unnamed woman in Baghdad's Sunni district of Adhamiyah Friday, a statement said. The military said Abu Rami's group was responsible for suicide bombings in Baghdad last week. * AFP