US: High-level al-Qaida leader killed in Iraq

The US military announced Wednesday that coalition forces killed a senior al-Qaida leader and his courier, both Turks, in an operation in northern Iraq. Mehmet Yilmaz, also known as Khalid al-Turki, operated a cell that facilitated the movement of foreign fighters into Iraq for al-Qaida operations, US Central Command said in a statement. The courier was identified as Mehmet Resit Isik, also known as Khalil al-Turki, a close associate of Yilmaz and other senior leaders within al-Qaida.