US military says al-Masri is al Qaeda's new leader

Baghdad, June 15: The US military said today it believes the real name of al Qaeda in Iraq's new leader is Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

''We think that Abu Ayyub al-Masri is in fact, probably, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir. They are probably one and the same,'' Major General William Caldwell, the spokesman for the US military in Iraq, told a news conference.

Al Qaeda named Muhajir the successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed last week in a US air strike.

Reuters