I posted yesterday that Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been nabbed and was off the street. Turns out, that story was not true:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, has not been captured, a senior U.S. military official told CNN on Friday.
Iraqi authorities said Thursday that al-Masri had been captured in Mosul.
U.S. military officials were surprised about the report of Abu Ayyub al-Masri’s capture — first reported by Iraqi media and picked up by The Associated Press. And intelligence officials said they were skeptical, even though Iraqi officials said al-Masri was already in U.S. military custody.
Al-Masri (“the Egyptian”), also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, took the reins of the Iraqi al Qaeda offshoot in June 2006 after a U.S. missile strike killed his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Since then, Iraqi officials have reported his death three times, his capture twice and a mortal wounding once.
Too bad. I wonder how things like the first story get started.
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