Old kill, now confirmed:A US air strike on a fleeing vehicle killed a senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leader on Friday in the same area where two American soldiers went missing a few hours later, a US military spokesman said. US forces had been on the trail of Mansur al-Mashhadani, identified as the top al-Qaeda religious leader in the country, before he was killed in the Yusufiya area just south of Baghdad, said Major General William Caldwell.
Mashhadani was one of the top five al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders and close to its mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was also killed by a US air strike on June 7. "He was a right-hand man to Zarqawi," Gen. Caldwell said.
US forces had spotted Mashhadani and two other militants in a car in the Yusufiya area south of Baghdad. His vehicle was destroyed from the air as he tried to get away. Mashhadani had previously been captured by US troops and then released in 2004.