Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    TIKRIT, Iraq, May 3 (Xinhua) -- A top leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was killed in Baghdad on Wednesday, a police source from Salahudin province told Xinhua on Thursday.

    Muharib Muhammad Abdullah, also known as Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi,was killed as the head of al-Qaida's media office in Iraq, the source said anonymously.

    Al-Iraqi was slaughtered with a knife by militants from the "Islamic Army in Iraq," a Sunni insurgent group, on Wednesday afternoon in Baghdad's western neighborhood of Ghazaliyah, the source added.

    Earlier, the Iraqi government and the U.S. military said they were probing reports on the death of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.