AL QAEDA MONSTER BLOWN UP

By PAULINE JELINEK, AP

Blamed in U.S. deaths." border="0" width="223">

AL-TUNISI
Blamed in U.S. deaths.

September 29, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - U.S.-led forces have killed one of the most important leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq, Tunisian believed connected to the kidnapping and killings last summer of American soldiers, a top commander said yesterday.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson said the death of the suspected terrorist in a U.S. airstrike Tuesday south of Baghdad, and recent similar operations against al Qaeda, have left the organization in Iraq fractured.

“Abu Osama al-Tunisi was one of the most senior leaders . . . the emir of foreign terrorists in Iraq and part of the inner leadership circle,” he said.

Al-Tunisi was a leader in helping bring foreign terrorists into the country and his death “is a key loss” to al Qaeda leadership there, Anderson told a Pentagon news conference.

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