This may be the best news US got our of Iraq recently. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6610873.stm The interior ministry in Iraq says it has received intelligence that the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been killed. Abu Ayyub al-Masri, believed to be an Egyptian, has led the group since June 2006 when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike. Al-Qaeda in Iraq is blamed for or has claimed some of the bloodiest insurgent attacks in Iraq since 2003. According to Iraqi officials, al-Masri was killed in an "internal battle" between militants. The BBC's defence correspondent Rob Watson says if the reports are confirmed, this would be a highly significant development in terms of the manner of al-Masri's death. US officials have long talked of friction between al-Qaeda and other Sunni insurgent groups. The reported killing would suggest there are real tensions for US and Iraqi officials to exploit, our correspondent says. 'Doubly sure' The clash took place on Tuesday in northern Baghdad, an interior ministry official said on Iraqi television. The official said that he was "100% sure" that al-Masri had been killed. "There were clashes within the groups of al-Qaeda. He was liquidated by them. Our forces had nothing to do with it," said interior ministry spokesman Brig Gen Abdel Karim Khalaf.