One of al-Qaeda’s top-ranked members in Iraq has been captured in the northern city of Mosul, the US military announced on Wednesday.

Khaled al-Mashhadani was detained on July 4 in Mosul and is considered to have been the main link between Egypt-born Abu Ayoub al-Masri and other al-Qaeda leaders across the globe.

“Al-Mashhadani is believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the al-Qaeda in Iraq network. In fact, communication between the senior al-Qaeda leadership and al-Masri frequently went through al-Mashhadani,” military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said.

According to the statement of Mashhadani, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was a” fictional role” deliberately associated with al-Masri, who was declared dead by the Iraqi authorities.

“In his words, the Islamic State of Iraq is a front organization that masks the foreign influence and leadership within al-Qaeda in Iraq in an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq,” Bergner said referring to the newly-formed organization.

In other developments, three US troopers died and four were injured on Tuesday in bomb attacks across Baghdad, the American army informed Wednesday.

A first incident occurred in the eastern region of Iraq’s capital, one serviceman being killed and four wounded after an explosive device went off near their vehicle. US military said the two perpetrators were killed in a shootout that took place after the bomb attack.

A roadside bomb took the lives of two soldiers in the opposite part of Baghdad, the powerful blast tearing through their armored vehicle.

Elsewhere, six persons died Wednesday in Baghdad when two coordinated explosions ripped through a bus station, police sources informed.