Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The top leader of al-Qaida in Iraq organization Abu Umer al-Baghdadi, also known as head of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, was killed in western Baghdad neighborhood, state-run Iraqia television reported on Thursday.

    "Abu Umer al-Baghdadi was killed in Ghazaliah and his body is under control of the Interior Ministry. His body has been identified," Brigadier General Abdul Karim Khalaf, spokesman ofthe Interior Ministry, was quoted as saying.

    Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, spokesman of the Multi-National Force-Iraq, said that he will hold a press conference to discuss recent success against the senior leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Earlier in the day, a source from Salahudin province told Xinhua that another senior leader of al-Qaida was killed in the same area on Wednesday.

    Muharib Muhammad Abdullah, also known as Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi,is the head of al-Qaida media office.

    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.

    It was not clear whether the two sources were referring to the same person or they were two senior al-Qaida leaders killed in the same neighborhood.

    Some Sunni insurgents in Iraq are reportedly angered by al-Qaida's large-scale attacks against Iraqi population.

    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.

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Source: Al-Qaida media head in Iraq killed

    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. Full story