Abu Ayyub al Masri news stories on Newser

False Alarm: Al-Qaeda Boss Still Loose in Iraq

Kevin Spak — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:40:03 CDT

Iraqi officials jumped the gun yesterday when they announced the capture of the top commander of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the US military said today. It turns out the man they captured isn’t Abu Ayyub al-Masri; he just has a similar name. The hunt for the real al-Masri, who has a...

Prez Pushes Osama's Link to Insurgency

Peter Fearon — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:13:41 CDT

President Bush insisted again yesterday that a Sunni insurgent group in Iraq is an integral part of Osama bin Laden's worldwide al-Qaeda network—-rebuffing several experts' claims to the contrary. Recent reports have suggested that Sunnis fighting under the "al-Qaeda in Iraq" banner are local insurgents with a weak connection...

Bush Contorts Qaeda Threat, Critics Charge

Peter Fearon — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:23:38 CDT

With George Bush using the words "al Qaeda" more than 30 times in his speech on Iraq yesterday, critics charge that he's persistently distorting links between the global Al Qaeda organization and the Iraqi insurgency. The Al Qaeda faction fighting in Iraq is largely an independent Iraqi phenomenon, the New...

Qaeda in Iraq Deputy Killed, But Masri Still on Loose

J. Kelman — Thu, 03 May 2007 11:47:32 CDT

Americans have killed a senior Al-Qaeda in Iraq deputy, but there's no evidence that the leader of the group died in fighting between rival factions, as the Iraqi government had claimed Tuesday. Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri, killed in a Tuesday raid, was a minister of information for Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Tribes Claim Al-Qaeda Head Killed by Rivals

Sam Gale Rosen — Tue, 01 May 2007 07:40:50 CDT

The head of al-Qaeda in Iraq is dead, according to the Iraqi government. Abu Ayyub al-Masri was killed in a skirmish between rival groups of militants, officials said today, suggesting the possibility of exploitable rifts in the Sunni insurgency. The U.S. military has not verified the claim because a...