מוסד לייגט אוועק כאמאס טעראריסט - סיריע

The spiritual leader of the terror group believed to have killed two American hostages in Iraq this week and responsible for a string of other deadly attacks has been killed in a US air strike, his family and Islamic clerics said yesterday.

The death of Sheikh Abu Anas al-Shami, who has in previous preachings on the internet condoned the kidnapping and killing of hostages, is a blow to Iraq's most active militant group, Tawhid and Jihad, led by Jordanian-born militant Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, experts say.

Al-Shami, a Palestinian who holds Jordanian citizenship, was killed when a missile hit the car he was travelling in on Friday in the west Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib, said the clerics, who have close ties to the family.

Al-Qaida Suspect Killed in Pakistan Raid
By ZARAR KHAN

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - Paramilitary police killed a suspected top al-Qaida operative Sunday in a four-hour gunbattle at a house in southern Pakistan that also led to the arrest of two other men, the information minister said.

Amjad Hussain Farooqi had been wanted for his alleged role in the kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 and two assassination attempts against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in December 2003.

''I as chief spokesman for the government of Pakistan confirm that our forces have killed Amjad Hussain Farooqi,'' Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated Press by phone from Amsterdam, where he has gone on an official trip with Musharraf.

Ahmed said ''two or three other people were also arrested during a big gunfight.'' He declined to identify them but said they were still being questioned by authorities and were ''very important.''

''This is the work of our security agencies, and they have done a great job,'' Ahmed said.

An intelligence official in Karachi identified the arrested men as Abdul Rehman and Yaqoob Farooqi. It was not clear what relation, if any, Yaqoob Farooqi had to Amjad Hussain Farooqi. Other officials could not immediately confirm that information.