Al Qaeda leader in Iraq "wounded"  

The leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq has been wounded and an aide killed in a clash with Iraqi police Thursday, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry.

The clash happened near Balad, an important U.S. military base north of Baghdad. Abu Ayyub al Masri, the leader, has sustained unspecified injuries in the clash, the ministry said.

Brig. Gen Abdul-Karim Khalaf of the armed forces declined to say how Iraqi forces knew al-Masri had been injured, and there was no report on the incident from the U.S. authorities.

Abu Ayyub al Masri was named new leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq on June 12, 2006 to succeed al-Zarqawi who was killed in a U.S. air strike in Baquba, 60 km northeast of Baghdad, on June 7.