Tests are being done on DNA taken from a slain militant to determine if he is al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri, but the US military said it is "highly unlikely" that the terror chief had been killed.
A US military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, said that a number of al-Qaeda suspects were killed in a recent raid in western Anbar province and initially "we thought there was a possibility al-Masri was among them."
"As we did further analysis, we determined that it was highly unlikely that he was killed," Johnson said.
"We are doing DNA testing to completely eliminate the possibility that this would be al-Masri, but we do not believe it is," he said.
Johnson would not say what kind of a DNA sample existed that tests of the body might be compared to, but said "we're confident we will be make a positive ID, or not, when the time comes."
The process "can take weeks to resolve," Johnson said.
Reports `not true'
Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi said the "report of [al-Masri's] death is not true."
Al-Masri, whose pseudonym means "the Egyptian," took over al-Qaeda in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed on June 7 in a US airstrike northeast of Baghdad. Al-Masri is also known by another pseudonym, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, but Iraqi intelligence has his real name and samples of his fingerprints for comparison, said al-Moussawi, who refused to divulge the real name.
Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Major-General Hussein Kamal said the raid took place two days ago, but he and Johnson refused to give further details. Two Arab satellite television stations reported that the militants were killed by US forces during a raid near Haditha.
On Sunday, Iraq's senior national security adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, told reporters US and Iraqi forces were closing in on al-Masri.
But on Wednesday, US military spokesman Major-General William Caldwell sounded more skeptical.
`Critical target'
"I'd love to tell you we're going to get him tonight," he told reporters.
"But, obviously, that's a very key, critical target for all of us operating here in Iraq. ... We feel very comfortable that we're continuing to move forward very deliberately in an effort to find him and kill or capture him," he said.
Caldwell said a personal assistant to al-Masri had been captured in a Sept. 28 raid in Baghdad, the second figure close to the al-Qaeda in Iraq chief to be captured that month.
"We're obviously gleaning some key critical information from those individuals and others that have been picked up," he said.
Al-Masri took over al-Qaeda in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed on June 7 in a US missile strike northeast of Baghdad.
US officials said al-Masri joined an extremist group led by al-Qaeda's No. 2 official in 1982.
He joined al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003.
also see story:
Central Baghdad rocked by bombing
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
MAKING PROGRESS: Officials and industry leaders who participated in a defense forum last month agreed that Taiwan has the capabilities to work with the US, the report said Taiwan’s high-tech defense industry is to enhance collaboration with the US to produce weapons needed for self-defense, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the Legislative Yuan. Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Yen-pu (徐衍璞) discussed building regional and global industry alliances with US partners at the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Philadelphia held from Sept. 22 to Tuesday last week, the ministry said in the declassified portion of the report. The visit contributed to maintaining bilateral ties, facilitated Taiwan’s efforts to acquire weapons and equipment, and strengthened the resilience of the two nation’s defense industries, it said. Taiwan-US ties
CONCERNS: Allowing the government, political parties or the military to own up to 10 percent of a large media firm is a risk Taiwan cannot afford to take, a lawyer said A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator has proposed amendments to allow the government, political parties and the military to indirectly invest in broadcast media, prompting concerns of potential political interference. Under Article 1 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the government and political parties — as well as foundations established with their endowments, and those commissioned by them — cannot directly or indirectly invest in satellite broadcasting businesses. A similar regulation is in the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法). “The purpose of banning the government, political parties and the military from investing in the media is to prevent them from interfering