Alleged top al-Qaeda figure Abu Rami killed in Baghdad

Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Judu al-Zubaydi, better known as Abu Rami, is said to have controlled the eastern half of Baghdad, an area called Rusafa.

Coalition troops surrounded a building in Adhamiya last night and demanded the occupants to surrender. They were shot at and returned fire. In the exchange, Abu Rami and a woman, who was with him, were killed.

A military statement did not specify whether the “coalition forces” involved were American or British. British special forces regularly take part in operations to kill or capture high-level al-Qaeda targets in the capital.

The military said intelligence reports led coalition forces to a building in Baghdad's Adhamiya neighborhood Friday. They surrounded the building and called on the occupants to surrender but were engaged by small arms fire, the military said.

The forces returned fire and killed two people, Abu Rami and a female, the military said.