By Andrew L. Jaffee

Things continue to improve in Iraq. U.S. troops killed al-Qaeda’s Number Two, a guy who was trying to reorganize the group in the northern part of the country:

American soldiers killed the alleged No. 2 leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, a Moroccan who trained in Afghanistan, recruited foreign fighters and ran operations in northern Iraq where Sunni insurgents remain a potent threat, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

The man, who the military said was known as Abu Qaswarah, died Oct. 5 during a raid on a building in the northern city of Mosul that served as a major “command and control location” for the region. Four other insurgents were killed in the operation, the U.S. said. …

The announcement of Abu Qaswarah’s death was withheld until Wednesday to allow for positive identification, the military said.

American officials described Abu Qaswarah, also known as Abu Sara, as a charismatic figure who had rallied al-Qaida’s network in the north after the movement suffered major setbacks in Baghdad and other former strongholds. …