The killing of two senior leaders of al-Qaeda by Iraqi and U.S. forces struck a devastating blow to the terrorist group, U.S. officials said.
“The decapitation of al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is what this represents, is a significant step,” U.S. Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters yesterday in Pittsburgh.
Vice President Joe Biden and General Raymond Odierno, the overall U.S. military commander in Iraq, joined in calling the killings a milestone in U.S. and Iraqi efforts to root out fighters linked to Osama Bin Laden’s Islamist terror organization.
Iraqi and U.S. forces killed Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayoub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamzah al-Muhajir, in a nighttime raid on their hideout in the province of Salaheddin on April 18, Iraq’s government and the U.S. military said. Both men were in direct contact with bin Laden and al-Qaeda’s second-in- command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a televised address.
“The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency,” Odierno said in an e-mailed statement.
In Washington, Biden called the raid a milestone that “demonstrates the improved security, strength and capacity of Iraqi security forces” as the U.S. prepares to withdraw combat troops by the end of August.
‘Taken the Lead’
“In short, the Iraqis have taken the lead in securing Iraq and its citizens by taking out both of these individuals,” the vice president said.
Mullen cautioned that the operation “by no means eliminates al-Qaeda in Iraq.”
“But I think the fact that their leadership has been killed is a very, very significant event in terms of al-Qaeda in Iraq and its long-term sustainability,” Mullen said. The admiral was in Pittsburgh visiting medical research facilities and other programs that work with war veterans.
The raid took place about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) southwest of Tikrit, the hometown of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the U.S. military said. A U.S. soldier died during the assault when a helicopter crashed, it said. Al- Masri’s assistant and al-Baghdadi’s son, who were “involved in terrorist activities,” were also killed in the raid.
Computers and hand-written letters seized during the raid confirmed the identities of the two al-Qaeda leaders, al-Maliki said.
Embassy Attacks
Among recent violence claimed by al-Qaeda in Iraq were the attacks on embassies in Baghdad on April 4 that killed at least 30 people and wounded 240.
Al-Baghdadi’s capture and death have been announced before, most recently in April 2009, when Iraqi security forces said they had arrested al-Baghdadi in a raid in Baghdad. The following month the Defense Ministry aired on national television what it called his videotaped confession.
The U.S. military in July 2007 said al-Baghdadi was a fictional character or a nom de guerre, invented to put an Iraqi face to a foreign terrorist organization.
Biden said the two al-Qaeda figures “are the ones who plotted, planned and executed terrorist attacks against the Iraqis in the recent past, as well as against Americans.”
The U.S. is still committed to its withdrawal timeline, which will result in all U.S. forces leaving Iraq by the end of 2011, he said. To consolidate security gains, Biden said the next step for Iraqi leaders is to form “an inclusive and representative government.”
Iraqi political parties are vying to form a coalition government as the U.S. withdraws combat forces from the country. No group won a majority of the 325 seats at stake in the March 7 parliamentary elections. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s secular Iraqiya bloc won 91 seats, two more than al- Maliki’s Shiite Muslim State of Law group.
