Al-Qaida in Iraq broken, Odierno says

WASHINGTON, June 7 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida in Iraq is struggling to reorganize following the death of several of its leaders at the hands of U.S. and Iraqi forces, U.S. military leaders said.

Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed in April that its leaders Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri were killed in Tikrit in a joint U.S.-Iraqi military operation.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden had called the deaths a "potentially devastating blow" to al-Qaida in Iraq.

U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters that al-Qaida in Iraq was on its way to defeat.

Odierno said his forces have captured or killed 34 out of the top 42 al-Qaida in Iraq leaders during the past three months, adding they have lost contact with senior al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"They're struggling a little bit," he said.

He praised Iraqi military leaders for taking a larger role in operations in their country.

"They've continued to develop their ability to collect intelligence and then action that intelligence," the general said.

Iraqi forces are in control of military operations in the country as their U.S. counterparts prepare to remove all combat forces by the end of August.

There are around 88,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.