U.S. military officials in Iraq say the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has not been captured.

Abu Hamza al-Muhajir

They denied reports from an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf, who told Iraqi state television on Thursday that Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been detained in a raid in the city of Mosul.

Al-Masri, who also goes by Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, took over command of al-Qaida in Iraq after Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006.

Last year, Iraqi forces said al-Masri had been killed in fighting, but al-Qaida in Iraq denied that report and released an audio recording from the Egyptian-born militant.

Last month, a message said to be from al-Masri threatened a fresh campaign of attacks against U.S. troops and vowed to behead a U.S. soldier.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.