Iraq's government had said that al-Masri had been killed either by rivals in al-Qaeda or by Sunni tribesmen. "The Islamic State in Iraq assures the Islamic nation about the safety of Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, may God save him, and that he is still fighting the enemies," the group said.
Earlier, the Iraqi authorities said they were investigating reports that al-Masri had been killed in a battle within his own group. Iraq's interior ministry said on Tuesday it had received intelligence information on al-Masri's apparent death, and that Iraqi security forces were not involved.
"Some information ... needs confirmation, but this information is very strong," said Brigadier-General Abdel Karim Khalaf, interior ministry operations director. "The clashes took place among themselves. There were clashes within the groups of al-Qaeda. He was liquidated by them." Khalaf said al-Masri was apparently killed in a battle near a bridge in the town of al-Nibayi, north of Baghdad. He said that Iraqi authorities did not have al-Masri's body. Another interior ministry source said al-Masri had been killed. [More]
Comment:
Well now, isn't this interesting. Al-Masri may not have had the celebrity of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, nor his criminal genius, and his attempted establishment of an "Islamic State in Iraq" defies comprehension, but he nevertheless succeeded quite well in maintaining the savagery¹ Zarqawi had created. If he his dead, let us hope that his replacement is to him what he was to Zarqawi.
More importantly, though, if he is dead this will be the second time I know of that al-Qaeda has murdered one of its own². I will have to watch closely as events unfold.
¹As defined by Abu Bakr Naji.
²See here.
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