Baghdad - Iraqi security forces on Thursday said they had killed a top military commander in the Iraqi branch of the al-Qaeda network.

General Tariq al-Assil, police chief for Iraq's western al-Anbar province, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that his forces had killed Hamza Ubid Idris, also known as Abu al-Ansar, on Wednesday night.

Al-Assil said that Idris was responsible for directing attacks in western Iraq by the al-Qaeda in Iraq organisation.

The general said that Iraqi security officers from the 8th Regiment of al-Anbar province's Emergency Forces killed Idris after receiving intelligence that he was in the Wadi Huran district of al- Anbar, 200 kilometres west of the provincial capital of Ramadi.

Al-Anbar is Iraq's Sunni heartland. Once a stronghold of insurgents, it has been calmer in recent months since Sunni tribes joined with US-led forces in "Awakening Councils" to fight Iraqi offshoot of the al-Qaeda network. (dpa)