The US military said Friday that Abu Hamza al- Muhajir,
believed to be the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq, had not
been detained by the US forces.
Abdul-Latif al-Rayan, US military media spokesman, told the Voices of Iraq
(VOI) news agency that al-Muhajir "was not with us" nor had he ever
been detained by US forces.
On Thursday evening, suspected al-Qaeda terrorists attacked a patrol near the
city of Ramadi in the west of the country, VOI reported.
They killed four Iraqi soldiers and injured nine, the report
said.
The US army got involved in the fighting and killed six of the attackers, the
report said.
An al-Qaeda commander by the name of Abu Qatada, believed to be from Saudi Arabia, was killed by US troops Thursday evening near the northern city of Samarra, security
sources said.
There was no evidence Friday to back up a claim made by the Iraqi Interior
Ministry on Thursday that it had located al-Muhajir in Iraq, near the city of Mosul.
The ministry claimed police had arrested al-Muhajir overnight.
There have been contradictory reports about the al-Qaeda leader's identity for
years.
US Army officials had speculated that al-Muhajir was an Egyptian, who also goes
by the name of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, dpa reported.
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