This article reports that the man who took over for AQI mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been killed. Spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh reported the news. Here’s what we know thus far:

Iraqi officials have received reports that the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq was killed by Sunni tribesmen but the information has not been confirmed, the chief government spokesman said Tuesday.

The statement by spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh followed a welter of reports from other Iraqi officials that Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been killed. Iraqi officials have rushed out similar reports in the past, only to acknowledge later they were inaccurate.

U.S. officials said they could not confirm the reported death.

That last sentence should provide reason enough to be cautious. Iraqi officials have reported the killing of various terrorists, only to have to retract the statements as inaccurate. That said, let’s hope that they’re right. Based on this statement, we should know fairly soon:

Al-Dabbagh told Al-Arabiya that word of al-Masri’s purported death was based on “intelligence information,” adding that “DNA tests should be done and we have to bring someone to identify the body.”

But he refused to say unequivocally whether Iraqi security forces have the body, citing security restrictions. Accounts were vague about when and where al-Masri supposedly died.

“We will make an official announcement when we confirm that this person is Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The Iraqi government will work to identify him,” he said.

If al-Masri is dead, this is just more proof that Iraqis are turning against AQI. That isn’t the same as saying that they’re willing to countenance foreign troops on Iraqi soil but it’s at least a step in the right direction. Here’s more information on al-Masri:

The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was killed on Tuesday in an internal fight between insurgents, the Interior Ministry spokesman said, but the U.S. military said it could not confirm the report. Spokesman Brigadier-General Abdul Kareem Khalaf told Reuters: “We have definite intelligence reports that al Masri was killed today”. He said the battle happened near a bridge in the small town of al-Nibayi, north of Baghdad.

Another source in the ministry said Masri had been killed in what he described as “probably score-settling within al Qaeda itself”.

Check back later for more updates as they become available.

UPDATE: Here’s an interesting bit of information:

Reports of al-Masri’s death came amid increasing friction between Sunni al-Qaida militants and other Sunni Arab insurgent groups in Iraq, particularly over al-Qaida’s policy of targeting civilians through suicide bombings at mosques and markets.

As I said earlier, this doesn’t mean that these insurgent groups like US military forces on Iraqi soil. What it does mean is that Iraqi insurgent groups hate AQI terrorists more than they dislike MNF-I troops. This can’t help AQI in the short- or long-term. These insurgents are telling AQI that they aren’t welcome there.

UPDATE II: Here’s what the Boston Globe is reporting:

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh told The Associated Press that al-Masri was believed to have been killed Monday in the Taji area north of Baghdad.

“Preliminary reports said he was killed yesterday in Taji area in a battle involving a couple of insurgent groups, possibly some tribal people who have problems with al-Qaida. These reports have to be confirmed.”

Tribesmen in the western Anbar province have been fighting al-Qaida for weeks and claim to have killed dozens of them.

This just adds more credibility to the first update, which said that there is considerable friction between Iraqi insurgents and AQI terrorists.

Another thing about this fighting between AQI and Iraqi insurgents is that this news isn’t bolstering Democrats’ arguments that the war in Iraq is lost. Sectarian violence has dropped by 66 percent. AQI terrorists have been producing most of the violence that TV shows. If AQI’s capabilities are being reduced and they’re having to defend themselves and their sanctuary, they’re being put into a bad position.

UPDATE III: FNC reporter Anita McNaught is now reporting that al-Masri’s body has been given to US military forces & that the identification process is underway. Let’s hope it’s confirmed.

UPDATE IV: Here’s some background information on al-Masri:

“His real name is Yussef al-Dardiri, he is around 38 years old and he comes from Upper Egypt,” Montasser al-Zayat, an Egyptian lawyer and former member of the Islamist group Gamaa Islamiya, told AFP last year. According to Zayat, who says he does not know him personally, Masri lived in the Cairo slum of Zawiya Hamra before going to Afghanistan in the late 1980s and then on to Iraq via Iran.

Here’s what we know about Gamaa Islamiya:

Egypt’s largest militant group, active since the late 1970s, appears to be loosely organized. Has an external wing with supporters in several countries worldwide. The group issued a cease-fire in March 1999, but its spiritual leader, Shaykh Umar Abd al-Rahman, sentenced to life in prison in January 1996 for his involvement in the World Trade Center bombing of 1993 and incarcerated in the United States, rescinded his support for the cease-fire in June 2000. The IG has not conducted an attack inside Egypt since August 1998. Senior member signed Usama Bin Ladin’s fatwa in February 1998 calling for attacks against the United States.

In other words, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, aka the Blind Sheikh, was the spiritual leader of Gemaa Islamiya. That makes them one of the most militant Islamic groups in existence. If al-Masri has indeed been killed, we will have killed a very militant Islamic fundamentalist.

UPDATE V: It was inevitable, even predictable. I just visited the Fever Swamp to see if they were spinning conspiracy theories about al-Masri’s death in Iraq, which they are. Here’s what they’re saying:

Right On Time, Mr. Big Is Dead
by rjmac
Tue May 01, 2007 at 06:50:35 AM PDT

I wanted to see how the Republican infomercial channel was observing the fourth anniversary of Bush’s notorious Mission Accomplished speech, and I wasn’t disappointed. At 8:30 eastern time their top story was…wow, who could guess this one…a thrilling announcement that Mr. Big was dead.

Which Mr. Big? Why Hamza al-Masri, who is said to be the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. I checked the Al Jazeera web site, and they also had the story, but it seemed pretty confused. Their report said Mr. Big was killed “in a battle within his own group.” Al Jazeera was also saying the Iraqi government wasn’t involved and didn’t have his body, but they were announcing the news.

Back on Fox News, Colonel Hunt, the resident hardass, was growling he’d “made a few calls” and they’re just waiting for confirmation from DNA. From a body no one has. Okay.

They’re seething that the delivery of the Democrats’ Defeatist Act isn’t getting the attention they hoped it would have. They’re seething because they think that FNC and other right wing media outlets are running the al-Masri story as part of a hoax. The theory is that they’re running al-Masri’s story to eat up all of the airtime so the “Mission Accomplished” story can’t get told.

Technorati Tags: al-Qaeda In Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Insurgency, Terrorism

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

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1. Finally, looks like somebody is doing the job we should have done SIX YEARS AGO, MR. PRESIDENT!

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