Al-Qaida-tied group denies al-Masri dead - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Al-Qaida-tied group denies al-Masri dead - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

Al-Qaida-tied group denies al-Masri dead
Self-styled organization refutes claims that al-Masri died in insurgent battle
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 11:33 a.m. ET May 1, 2007
DUBAI - The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq denied the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, was killed on Tuesday.

"The Islamic State in Iraq assures the Islamic nation about the safety of Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, may God save him, and that he is still fighting the enemies," said the al-Qaida-linked group in a statement posted on a Web site used by militants.

A spokesman for Iraq's interior ministry said earlier on Tuesday that the militant leader was killed in an internal fight between militants north of Baghdad. but U.S. military officials appeared to cast doubt on the report.

The Ministry spokesman also told NBC News that al-Masri was killed Tuesday in an "internal" fight between insurgents. "We have intelligence reports that confirm he was killed," Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said.

Internal friction grows
There has been growing friction between Sunni Islamist al-Qaida and other Sunni Arab insurgent groups over al-Qaida's indiscriminate killing of civilians and its imposition of an austere brand of Islam in the areas where it holds sway.

If true, al-Masri's killing would signal a deepening split at a time when the Shiite-led government is trying to woo some insurgent groups into the political process.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khalaf and another Interior Ministry source told Reuters that the Iraqi authorities did not have al-Masri's body, but the source added that “our people had seen the body.”

The U.S. military, for its part, was checking the reports, said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman.

“We are in discussions with the Iraqis over how they obtained this intelligence. If we do have a body, we are going to conduct DNA tests, and that will take several days. If there is no body, that makes it harder,” Garver said.

Separately, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said U.S. officials were still checking the details with Iraqi leaders.

Crocker added that if confirmed, "clearly taking a major terrorist off the battlefield is an important thing" and a "significant and positive development."

Previous reports in error
In February, Interior Ministry sources said al-Masri had been wounded in a gunbattle north of Baghdad, but those reports turned out not to be true. There were also reports in October that he had been killed, which again were incorrect.

Al-Masri, believed to be Egyptian and who is also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, assumed the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq after Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike in June 2006.

Officials had hoped the demise of Zarqawi might have weakened al-Qaida, but he was quickly replaced by Masri and the group’s attacks continued unabated, pushing Iraq closer to full-scale sectarian civil war.

The United States has a $5 million bounty on al-Masri's head.

Sunni threat
On the political front, Iraq’s main Sunni bloc is considering quitting the Shiite-led government because it believes the concerns of Sunnis are not being addressed, members of the bloc including the vice president said on Tuesday.

Some members of the Sunni Accordance Front have been urging the bloc for several months to pull out of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s cabinet, partly over accusations that reconciliation with minority Sunni Arabs has moved too slowly.

The bloc has six ministers in the government and a withdrawal would be a blow to Maliki and raise questions about how representative his administration would remain.

A pullout would not be enough to topple al-Maliki, as he would still have a majority in parliament through his ruling Shiite Alliance and a coalition of Kurdish parties. The Accordance Front has 44 seats in the 275-member parliament.

“We are serious in withdrawing if nothing new happens with progress in the political process,” Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Sunni bloc, said in Amman where he was on a visit.

Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a senior member of the bloc, said the Front would make its position known soon.

Maliki, a Shiite Islamist, insists the government is making progress toward reconciliation between majority Shiites and Sunni Arabs who were dominant under Saddam Hussein.


© 2007 MSNBC InteractiveReuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18410713/