U.S. official: Al Qaeda's No. 2 in Iraq killed

Al Qaeda in Iraq's No. 2 operative was killed during a raid by coalition and Iraqi forces, a U.S. Defense Department official said Tuesday.
Abu Azzam, a "significant" figure in the al Qaeda network in Iraq, was slain early Sunday in Baghdad during a joint operation, a military official spokesman in Iraq said.
Azzam had a personal relationship with terrorist leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi and held senior positions in the al Qaeda in Iraq network in Baghdad and Falluja, he said.
"This creates a void for al Qaeda in Iraq, in their leadership, for a while," the spokesman said.
According to the military, Azzam and another man fired at coalition forces as they entered a residential high rise apartment just before 5 a.m. The forces killed Azzam and wounded the other man.
Two women were not injured, the spokesman said.
The military spokesman said Azzam's full name is Abdulla Najim Abdulla Mohammed al Juwari and he also went by the name of Abu Salwa.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched several raids in recent weeks aimed at disrupting al Qaeda in Iraq, which is led by al Zarqawi.
U.S. and Iraqi officials announced last week that two men described as top al Qaeda leaders in the northern city of Mosul were captured during a September 5 raid.