It's Official: Al Qaeda in Iraq Commander Is Dead, Dead, Dead

Hooray! Yes, it's official - the commander, Abu Qutada Al-Saudi, was killed north of Baghdad along with three of his aides/henchmen. This is a solid hit and just adds another to the list of the Endangered Species in Iraq (al Qaeda senior leadership).
The other encouraging part of this was that it was an Iraqi Security Force operation - that means it was Iraqi Police doing the killing. With the local police working hand in hand with U.S, Coalition and Iraqi Army forces...al Qaeda in Iraq is going to find fewer and fewer rocks to hide under. One could also assume that this all came about due to a local tip which is even better news.

Here's the full story from Kuna.

Al-Qaeda commander killed in military operation north of Baghdad - official
BAGHDAD, Jan 11 (KUNA) -- Governor of Salah Eddin province Hamad AL-Kashti said on Friday that Al-Qaeda Commander Abu Qutada Al-Saudi was killed today during a military operation carried out by Iraqi security forces and US military in the city of Samarra north of Baghdad.AL-Kashti told KUNA, two days ago Iraqi security forces in collaboration with Iraqi military and police in the province, and US coalition forces raided a hide out for the terrorists after receiving intelligence information regarding the hide out.Iraqi security force were able to kill Abu Qutada and three of his followers, including the arrest of 12 others, Al-Kashti said.The Iraqi governor added US military air planes supported operations near the area.For his part, Iraqi Police Commander Brigadier in the province said that Abu Qutada was carrying an explosive belt when he was killed, noting that weapon caches and explosives were confiscated after the operation. (end) mhg.mb KUNA 111825 Jan 08NNNN