By DPA
Baghdad : The head of Al Qaeda-linked “Islamic State in Iraq”, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, was killed in a military operation in western Baghdad, the al-Iraqiya news channel reported Thursday.
Al-Iraqiya quoted Abdul-Karim Khalaf, head of the operations’ centre of the Iraqi interior ministry, as saying “Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of what is called the Islamic State in Iraq, was killed today in the Ghazalya district of western Baghdad.”
The report also said that the interior ministry had the body of the dead militant.
Al-Baghdadi is reportedly known on the Internet as “the prince of the Islamic State of Iraq,” an Al Qaeda-led militant group formed in October, which comprises Sunni insurgent groups.
The reports also said al-Baghdadi was the leader of “Majlis Shora al-Mujahideen,” which comprises several Iraqi militant groups connected to the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
Also in Baghdad, four contract workers for the US government were killed Wednesday in a rocket attack on the heavily fortified Green Zone governing compound, American news network CNN quoted a US embassy statement as saying Thursday.
Daniel Speckhard, charge d’affaires at the Iraqi embassy, said the four workers were citizens of the Philippines who “were integral members of our embassy community.”