BAGHDAD — A key al-Qaida in Iraq leader that intelligence officials say was responsible for bringing hundreds of suicide bombers across the border from Syria has been killed in a raid in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said today.
The military called the death a blow to the terrorist organization in Iraq, though acknowledged it remains very much capable of carrying out well planned, coordinated assaults with large body counts.
Attacks against three hotels and a police crime lab in Baghdad this week killed dozens.
Though past claims by U.S. and Iraqi officials to have captured or killed key al-Qaida operatives have proven wrong, the U.S. military said it had confirmed the identity of the body of the operative through fingerprints and other means.
The man was identified as Saad Uwayid Obeid Mijbil al-Shammari, also known as Abu Khalaf, the military said in a statement.
Abu Khalaf was killed Jan. 22 after attacking a soldier during a joint Iraqi-U.S. raid in the northern city of Mosul, some 60 miles from the Syrian border.
He was believed to have been moving foreign fighters across the border since 2006, the same year a U.S. airstrike killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida in Iraq.
The military said he also worked as a financier, gathering and distributing money and weapons to al-Qaida throughout the country.
Earlier this week, Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said intelligence indicated there were between five and 10 main insurgent leaders planning the attacks in Baghdad.
Odierno also said there has been a decline in the number of foreign fighters crossing from Syria into Iraq, citing political pressure and beefed up security along the border.
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