Insurgent group that commands al-Qaida in Iraq names new top leader

Iraqi insurgent group names new leader

BAGHDAD — The insurgent group that commands al-Qaida in Iraq has named a new top leader.

In an Internet statement Sunday, the Islamic State of Iraq says its consultative council has chosen Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Husseini al-Qurashi as the emir, or leader, “of the believers.”

The Islamic State of Iraq is an insurgent umbrella group. The largest group under its control is al-Qaida in Iraq.

Al-Qurashi replaces Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a U.S.-Iraqi airstrike on a safe house in April.

Al-Qaida in Iraq’s last leader, Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was also killed in that strike.

On Friday, the Islamic State of Iraq announced that he had been replaced by al-Nasser Lideen Allah Abu Suleiman, whom it called its new “minister of war.”