Brigadier General Kevin Bergner said the captured man Khaled al-Mashhadani was the most senior Iraqi member of al-Qaeda in the violence plagued country.

He said Mashhadani had told his US interrogators that the supposed Iraqi leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq was fictitious and a front for its Egyptian chief, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

Bergner told reporters the voice representing alleged Qaeda kingpin "Omar al-Baghdadi" on propaganda recordings was that of an actor and that Masri was the real leader of the network's Iraqi affiliate.

"Al-Baghdadi, who has never been seen, is an actor. To make al-Baghdadi seem real al-Masri swore allegiance to him, knowing he was ficticious," he said.

"Mashhadani confirmed that al-Masri and the al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders he surrounds himself with are foreigners," he said.