Abu Ayyub al-Masri was an active combatant of al-Qaeda and a senior aide to former leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. When Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike on 7 June 2006, U.S. Pentagon sources identified al-Masri as among the prime candidates to assume direction of the Iraqi insurgency.[6] On 12 June 2006, the al-Qaeda in Iraq website announced that al-Masri had been appointed the new leader of the insurgent group.[1] He was killed during a raid on his house on 18 April 2010.