Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military said Saturday that it has positively identified a high-level al-Qaida leader killed during an operation near the restive city of Fallujah, 50 km west of Baghdad.

    "Another foreign al-Qaida terrorist has been removed from the al-Qaida network here in Iraq," a U.S. military statement quoted Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a Multi National Forces spokesperson, as saying.

    "This terrorist was a significant figure in the network and was only one step away from Abu Ayyub al-Masri," said Garver, referring to Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Masri, an Egyptian and also a senior leader in al-Qaida.

    "Intelligence reports indicate he worked directly for Abu Ayyubal-Masri, the military emir of Al-Qaida in Iraq," said the statement, adding that Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Masri was in charge of an Islamic court run by insurgents in the town of Radwaniyah, southwest of Baghdad.

    It added that several known associates and other detainees also positively identified Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Masri. However, the al-Qaida in Iraq organization is still at command of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.

    He was a senior aide to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, former leader of the al-Qaida network who was killed in a U.S. air strike on June 7,2006.