Iraq War Watch: Al Qaeda “Religious Emir” Killed in Iraq
A U.S. army soldier is seen during a routine patrol in Tikrit, Iraq.
AP: Key figure in al-Qaida in Iraq killed
A key al-Qaida in Iraq leader described as the group’s “religious emir” was killed in a U.S. airstrike hours before two American soldiers went missing and in the same area, the military said Tuesday.
Mansour Suleiman Mansour Khalifi al-Mashhadani, or Sheik Mansour, and two foreign fighters were killed as they tried to flee in a vehicle near the town of Youssifiyah, in the so-called Sunni “Triangle of Death.”
U.S. coalition forces had been tracking al-Mashhadani for some time, American military spokesman William Caldwell said in announcing his death. He said al-Mashhadani was an Iraqi, 35 to 37 years old, and that one of the men killed with him was an al-Qaida cell leader identified as Abu Tariq.
The three men were killed just hours before an insurgent attack on a traffic checkpoint near Youssifiyah, by a Euphrates River canal. One U.S. soldier was killed in the attack and two were reported missing afterward.
Two bodies believed to be those of the missing men — Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., were recovered in the same area.
Caldwell said the Iraqi militant played a key religious and recruiting role in the group. The spokesman said Mansour was linked to the senior leadership, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a June 7 U.S. airstrike, and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the man the U.S. military has identified as al-Zarqawi’s replacement.
Mansour “reportedly served as a right-hand man of Zarqawi’s, and also served as a liaison between al-Qaida in Iraq and the various tribes in the Youssifiyah area, as well as playing a key role in their media operations,” Caldwell said.
Citing intelligence sources, Caldwell also said Mansour was responsible for the shooting down of a coalition aircraft this spring.
Another one bites the dust…….
Kill them all…….
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