According to a CNN Breaking News announcement, an Iraqi Defense Ministry has told the Associated Press that the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq (Abu Ayyub al-Masri) has been arrested.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is considered the #1 enemy in Iraq by the US military. It is a Sunni Islamic insurgency group, not to be confused with other Shiite groups (such as Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army) with which it has been at odds with in the past.

Let’s see if this Iraqi Defense Ministry report turns out to be true. If so, it will be interesting to see whether the loss of its leader will significantly curtail al-Qaeda in Iraq’s “effectiveness” (or if another person will simply rise up to fill al-Masri’s place).

P.S. Part of the reason for posting this breaking news is to see whether it attracts page views via Google. As you may have observed, I don’t usually post on Iraq-related news.