The confirmation, posted late April 24 night on Islamist websites, comes a week after U.S. officials announced the deaths of Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

The two men were killed in a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation in a strike on April 18 near Tikrit, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. military has said the deaths dealt a "potentially devastating blow" to the terrorist group.

Al-Masri, a native of Egypt, was military leader of al Qaeda in Iraq while Al-Baghdadi was leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group that includes al Qaeda in Iraq.

Al-Masri's assistant and al-Baghdadi's son, who also were involved in terrorist activities, were killed as well, the U.S. military said.

An Iraqi intelligence cell pursuing high-level leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq gathered information for the operation, said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The two men were hiding in a hole within a house, where their bodies were eventually found by security forces, he said.