al-Qaida in Iraq Propagandist Killed

Blindfolded detainees sit on the ground at the joint Iraqi U.S. military headquarters in Youssifiyah, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, May 2, 2007. 56 suspected insurgents were arrested in a joint U.S. and Iraqi army raid in a village west of Youssifiyah. (AP Photo/Haidar Fatehi) (Haidar Fatehi - AP)

On Thursday, mourners gathered at al-Jubouri's house in Duluiyah, 45 miles north of Baghdad, as a huge funeral tent went up in the street, police said.

Caldwell said 87 militants were killed and 465 people of interest detained in 139 operations against the group in April.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up operations against the terrorist network following a series of car bombings and suicide attacks that have killed hundreds in recent weeks despite the 11-week-old operation in Baghdad and surrounding areas.

At least 52 people were killed or found dead in Iraq on Thursday, including four in mortar attacks in different parts of Baghdad and two in a parked car bombing that also wounded more than 30 in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk.

The U.S. Embassy statement gave no other details about Wednesday's attack that killed the four contractors in the Green Zone _ two from India, one from the Philippines and one from Nepal.

The Green Zone houses the U.S. and British embassies, Iraq's parliament and other key government offices and is considered the safest area of the city despite occasional shelling.

Two Americans _ a contractor and a soldier _ were killed in March in a rocket attack on the area. Two suicide vests were found unexploded in the Green Zone less than a week after that.

The adequacy of security in the area also came into question after the April 12 suicide bombing in the parliament building's dining hall. One lawmaker was killed in the blast, which was claimed by the al-Qaida-led amalgam of Sunni insurgents.

On Wednesday, Rear Adm. Mark Fox, a U.S. military spokesman, said the latest round of Green Zone attacks appeared to be part of a strategy by extremists "to score a spectacular hit or try to obtain some sort of a headline-grabbing direct hit."

Many believe such violence will continue until the ruling Shiites give minority Sunnis a greater share of power and Iraq's oil wealth.

On Thursday, Sunni politicians accused Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of refusing to share power. The National Accordance Front, which has 44 of parliament's 275 seats, issued a strongly worded statement on the opening day of a major international conference on Iraq in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik in a bid to remind the world of what the group sees as the gross failings of al-Maliki's government.

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Associated Press writers Lauren Frayer and Thomas Wagner in Baghdad contributed to this report.