Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri were killed in a joint operation Sunday in what Vice President Joe Biden called a “potentially devastating blow” to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The joint forces quickly followed that up with a morning raid the following day in which insurgent leader Ahmed al-Obeidi was killed in the northern province of Ninevah,

Maj Gen Qassim al-Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman, said Obeidi was in charge of al-Qaida in Iraq’s operations in the provinces of Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Ninevah.