2 al-Qaeda leaders killed in Iraq

Two top al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq were killed by U.S. and Iraqi forces in a rocket attack, officials say.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced the deaths ofAbu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri during a news conference in Baghdad on Monday, showing photos of their bloody corpses to reporters. U.S. military officials also confirmed their deaths.

Ground forces surrounded a house and used rockets to kill the two, who were hiding inside,al-Maliki said.

The U.S. military said an American helicopter crashed during the assault, killing one U.S. soldier.

U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden called the killing of the two a "potentially devastating blow" to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

There have been false alarms before about the fate of al-Masri. At least twice in 2006 and in May 2007 reports circulated that al-Masri was dead, but they were later proven wrong.

Al-Masri took over al-Qaeda in Iraq after its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed June 7, 2006, in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.

Little is known about al-Baghdadi, who is credited with organizing the Sunni insurgent campaign over the past years.