BAGHDAD — A U.S. military helicopter fired a guided missile to kill a wanted Al Qaeda in Iraq leader from Saudi Arabia who was responsible for the bombing deaths of five American soldiers, a spokesman said Sunday.
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said Jar Allah, also known as Abu Yasir al-Saudi, and another Saudi known only as Hamdan, were both killed Wednesday in Mosul.
According to the military, al-Saudi conducted numerous attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces, including a Jan. 28 bomb attack that killed the five U.S. soldiers.
In that attack, insurgents blasted a U.S. patrol with a roadside bomb and showered survivors with gunfire from a mosque. The soldiers died in the explosion, the deadliest on American forces since six soldiers perished Jan. 9 in a booby-trapped house north of Baghdad.
Intelligence gathered in the Mosul area led the U.S. military to al-Saudi, who was in a car with Hamdan. A precision helicopter strike killed both and destroyed their vehicle. U.S. forces then confirmed the men's identities.
Smith said their deaths brought to 142 the number of Al Qaeda insurgents killed or captured in Mosul since the beginning of the year.
Al-Saudi was the man who headed up the Al Qaeda network in southeast Mosul, an insurgent hotbed where U.S. forces wage daily battles against the group.
"Mosul is the center of Al Qaeda's terrorist activities today. Mosul is a critical crossroads for Al Qaeda in Iraq. Baghdad has always been Al Qaeda's operational center of gravity, but Mosul remains their strategic center of gravity as it provides access to the flow of foreign fighters," Smith said.
Mosul is located at the locus of roads that connect Iraq with Syria to the west, Turkey to the north and Iran to the east. Many fighters smuggled in from Syria make their way through Mosul, where they can easily blend in with city's ethnically and religiously diverse population.
"It is their strategic center of gravity. One-half to two-thirds of attacks in Iraq today are in and around Mosul," Smith said.
A successful program to recruit and fund Sunni tribesmen has also slashed Al Qaeda's influence in Baghdad and western Anbar province, pushing the group into Diyala province and up toward Mosul — fighting as they retreat north.
