Al Qaeda, Iraq, - latimes.com

Reporting from Baghdad

U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed the top two leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq and detained a large number of their followers, officials said Monday, in what appears to be a major strike against the stubbornly persistent extremist group blamed for a string of recent high-profile bombings that have dangerously destabilized the nation.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, called the deaths "potentially the most significant blow to Al Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency."

Vice President Joe Biden told reporters in Washington the killings were a "potentially devastating blow" to the insurgents.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, who is fighting to keep his job after last month's disputed election, appeared on television to trumpet the killings, calling them a "triumph" for the Iraqi security forces that "broke the back of Al Qaeda."

The two leaders, Abu Hamza Muhajir and Abu Omar Baghdadi, were killed Sunday in an Iraqi-led raid supported by U.S. forces on an Al Qaeda safe house 6 miles southwest of Tikrit, the U.S. military said in a statement. A U.S. soldier was killed in the assault when a helicopter crashed, the statement said.