US Military: Top al-Qaida Leader in Iraq Killed

On Wednesday the U.S. military announced the death of a man they describe as the Number 2 leader of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaida in Iraq. The military says that they killed Abu Qaswarah on October 5 during an operation in northern Iraq during which four other alleged al-Qaida members were also slain.

Qaswarah, a native of Morocco also known as Abu Sara, is said to have directed al-Qaida's operations in northern Iraq, where the group has recently been blamed for large-scale attacks. He was the right-hand man of the group's leader, an Egyptian that goes by the name Ayyub al-Masri, and is also said to have had "historic ties" to the group's founder, Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in June 2006.

The military issued the following statement:

"Abu Qaswarah is another example of how al-Qaeda in Iraq has been forced to rely on foreign terrorists to carry out their vicious attacks on the Iraqi people as well as coalition and Iraqi forces. Terrorists who bring radical and fanatic Islam into Iraq commit murderous acts against the people of Iraq and have no place in the future of Iraq."