Military Denies Capture Of al-Qaeda Leader

May 9, 2008 8:50 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The U.S. military denied reports on Friday that al-Qaeda leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been captured in Iraq.

"Neither coalition forces nor Iraqi security forces detained or killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri. This guy had a similar name," military spokesman Peggy Kageleiry is quoted by Al Jazeera as saying.

Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf announced on state television the previous day that al-Masri, whose other name is Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, had been arrested after a raid by Iraqi police in Mosul.

The Multi-national Force-Iraq had sent an email to Bloomberg after the announcement saying, "`We do not have any operational reporting at this time that indicates that Abu Ayyub al-Masri has been captured. We are still checking with our Iraqi counterparts to verify the exact details."

Al-Masri was senior aide to former al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi until June 2006, when al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike.