'Beginning Of The End' For Al-Qaeda In Iraq

At a televised news conference, al-Rubay'i said security forces seized important documents at al-Zarqawi's hideout providing important information about the terrorist group and its leaders.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is now being led by Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, a previously little-known figure. The U.S. military said on June 16 that it believes his real name is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian trained in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by coalition troops, are patrolling Baghdad on the second day of a new security clampdown intended to restore order to the capital.

As the security measures went into force, police found seven corpses with bullet wounds in different parts of Baghdad.

In the northern city of Tikrit, gunmen stormed a Sunni mosque, killing four people and wounding at least 13. Police said an unexploded bomb was also found at the mosque.

In another development, a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation arrested the chairman of the Karbala Governorate council, Akil al-Zubaydi, for allegedly supporting terrorism. Another councillor and member of the council's security committee was also arrested in the operation.

(Reuters, AFP, AP)