BAGHDAD - The US military said Thursday that a senior Al-Qaeda militant killed last month in western Iraq was a Turk with links to the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Ahmed Sancar, also known as Khattab al-Turki, was killed along with two comrades identified earlier as Mehmet Yilmaz or Khalid al-Turki and Mehmet Resit Isik, also known as Khalil al-Turki, on June 23 in the town of Hawija.
Yilmaz was a close associate of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, who planned the September 11 attacks in the United States, the military said, adding he had also led a group of Turks to Afghanistan in 2001 to fight US-led forces.
The three were killed while traveling with an unidentified associate.
"When the vehicle stopped, coalition forces moved to detain the four individuals. The four men exited the vehicle, which was followed during surveillance operations, with weapons in hand," the US statement said.
"As coalition forces moved to detain the armed men, the four armed terrorists fired on the forces. Responding in self-defence, coalition forces engaged the armed men, killing all four."
Inside the car troops found a number of weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, the military said.
Sancar was a "known terrorist and senior leader in Al-Qaeda and a key financier and facilitator for the terrorist group," the military said.
"Intelligence reports indicate that Sancar, like Isik, performed key communication and logistic roles for al-Qaeda in Iraq and coordinated with other senior al-Qaeda facilitators."
The US military said that Sancar had been planning to carry out an attack in the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq.
07/19/2007 16:12 GMT