Al-Qaeda's top two leaders in Iraq have been killed, officials said today, in a strike the United States called a "potentially devastating blow".
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said al-Qaeda's Iraq leader, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported head of its local affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, were found dead in a hole in the ground inside a house after it was surrounded and stormed by troops.
The deaths could be a major setback to the stubborn insurgency at a time when Iraq is emerging from the sectarian slaughter unleashed after the 2003 US-led invasion but still struggling to end suicide bombings and other attacks.
"Their deaths are potentially devastating blows to al-Qaeda Iraq," US vice president Joe Biden told reporters in Washington, adding the operation "demonstrates the improved security strength and capacity of Iraqi security forces." He said it was an operation led by Iraqi security forces with the support of US troops, one of whom was killed.
However, analysts cautioned against reading too much into the strike against a network that did not appear to have much hierarchy but operates mainly through independent cells.
The killings may boost Mr Maliki's stature, however, as he tries to ensure his reappointment as prime minister following a March 7th general election that produced no outright winner.
His ambitions for a second term are proving to be a stumbling block to the formation of an alliance between Iraq's two main Shia Muslim political groups that would give them the clout to form a government.
The White House today said capturing or killing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden remained a priority for the United States.
Reuters