Report: Iraq Sunnis Kill Al-Qaida Leader

Infighting between Sunni Muslim insurgents resulted in the death of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

Iraqi Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf told reporters in Baghdad there was very strong intelligence Masri had been killed although the U.S. military said it couldn’t confirm the report, CNN said.

Khalaf said the fighting happened at dawn Tuesday in al-Nuba’ie in Taji, north of Baghdad. He said neither Iraqi nor U.S. forces played any role in the incident.

Masri, an Egyptian, took over the terror group’s leadership in Iraq last June when a U.S. airstrike killed Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and the group has come under criticism by other Sunni rebels about its attacks that are killing thousands of civilians.

The United States had a $5 million bounty on Masri’s head.