AQ in Iraq Leader Claimed Killed

Possible cause for celebration, from CNN:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Unconfirmed reports that al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri has been killed come from local tribes and not Iraq's intelligence services or military, an Iraqi government spokesman said Tuesday.

Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the government won't be able to confirm al-Masri's death until it makes an identification of the body.

"Iraqi security forces do not have the body," al-Dabbagh said on Iraqi state TV. "Iraqi security forces and Multi-National Forces are trying to retrieve the body for visual identification and DNA tests."

The reports of al-Masri's death emerged after a confrontation Tuesday between Sunni tribes and al Qaeda in Iraq at a bridge in an area under Sunni tribal control, al-Dabbagh said.

Thanks to Dr. Rusty Shackleford of The Jawa Report.