BAGHDAD - The U.S. military says the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda in Iraq has been killed during an operation in the northern city of Mosul.
The military has identified the insurgent leader as a Moroccan known as Abu Qaswarah or Abu Sara.
Wednesday's statement says he became the senior al Qaeda in Iraq emir of northern Iraq in June 2007 and had ties to senior al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It also says "he was al Qaeda in Iraq's second-in-command" behind Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who also is known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.
