A top US commander in Iraq said Tuesday he was not sure al Qaeda's top leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a recent raid in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Lieutenant General John Vines, chief of the Multi-National Corps Iraq and commanding general of the US 18th Airborne Corps, said he had "absolutely no reason" to believe that Zarqawi was one of those killed in the operation over the weekend.

"It is possible, but I have no reason to believe it," Vines told a news briefing at the Pentagon from Iraq via videoconference.

He confirmed that US officials have the ability to determine if al-Zarqawi was there.

"I am told that there is a DNA database of some of his relatives that is able to be compared against ... those who were killed there," he said.

If Zarqawi had been one of those killed in the house, "we could confirm that," he said.

Vines said US forces were following up "every possible lead" to capture Zarqawi.

Eight insurgents and four Iraqi policemen were killed in the raid on Saturday by US and Iraqi forces on a house in Mosul believed to used by al Qaeda members in Iraq, and media reports have said Zarqawi might have been among the dead insurgents.

Source: Xinhua