Iraqi and US forces have killed a senior member of al-Qaida in Iraq, Interior Ministry sources and the US military said on Friday.

Humadi al-Takhi, who they said was a district commander of the group, was killed in a raid on a house on Friday about 10 kilometers northeast of the city of Samarra, 100 kilometers north of Baghdad.

It was not possible to independently verify the claim.

Samarra is a stronghold for Sunni Arab insurgents fighting US and Iraqi forces, and the city where a Shi'ite shrine was bombed in February, fanning sectarian violence across Iraq.

A senior intelligence official in the nearby city of Tikrit said the raid followed intelligence reports.

The US military said in a statement two other militants were killed in the raid.

Support for the insurgency in Samarra was hit badly when rebels killed a local tribal leader last August.

Takhi replaced his elder brother, Najim al-Takhi, as al-Qaida chief in Samarra after he was arrested in June last year while hiding in western Baghdad.

Najim's body was found in Baghdad's central morgue in August, showing signs of torture.

On Thursday, Iraqi forces arrested another senior leader of al- Qaida in the Tikrit region, Abdul Khadir Makhol.

US military spokesman Major-General Rick Lynch said on Thursday the al-Qaida in Iraq group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was the main force in the insurgency.

"The primary face of the insurgency right now we are most concerned about is Zarqawi and al- Qaida in Iraq," he told reporters in Baghdad.

Zarqawi appeared in a rare video this week, saying his holy warriors would fight on and accusing Washington of installing a puppet regime so it could pull itself out of its troubles.

In another development, at least 30 people were killed, including seven Iraqi soldiers, when more than 100 rebels attacked Iraqi police and army posts in Baquba on Thursday, the US military said on Friday.

(China Daily April 29, 2006)