Al-Qaeda in Iraq says leaders dead

Al-Qaeda in Iraq has confirmed the deaths of two of the group's senior leaders, a week after Iraqi and US authorities announced they had been killed, according to a US-based intelligence-monitoring agency
Abu Ayub al-Masri, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported head of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an al-Qaeda affiliate, were reportedly killed in a joint raid by US and Iraqi soldiers on April 18.

SITE, the intelligence-monitoring service, said on Saturday that the Islamic State of Iraq, had confirmed the deaths of the two men in a statement on internet forums believed to be used by the group.

"The ISI shariah minister, Abu al-Walid Abd al-Wahhab al-Mashadani, informed that both leaders were attending a meeting when enemy forces engaged with them in battle and launched an air strike on their location," SITE said.

Al-Mashadani was quoted as saying: "If Allah fated that the two sheikhs be killed at this particular time, know that they left a unique generation behind, one that was raised before their eyes."