BAGHDAD — A regional al-Qaida leader was killed today as U.S. and Iraqi forces continue to put pressure on the terrorist organization following the reported deaths of its two top-ranking figures on the weekend, officials said.

American and Iraqi officials announced Monday that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri were killed in a joint operation on Sunday in what Vice President Joe Biden called a "potentially devastating blow" to al-Qaida in Iraq.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza said American and Iraqi security forces would be keeping pressure on al-Qaida. Iraq.

"They're still a threat here, and we will not lose sight of that," he told The Associated Press.

In a joint morning raid, U.S. and Iraqi forces acting on intelligence information killed suspected insurgent leader Ahmed al-Obeidi in the northern province of Ninevah, Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said.

Al-Moussawi said the slain insurgent, known as Abu Suhaib, was in charge of al-Qaida in Iraq's operations in the provinces of Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Ninevah.

The terrorist organization in the past has reacted to the deaths of leading figures with new attacks, but it was not immediately clear whether scattered violence today across the country was related.

In one incident north of Baghdad, gunmen stormed into the home of a member of a Sunni group that joined forces with the Americans to fight al-Qaida in Iraq, killing his wife and children, a police officer said.

Elsewhere, a police colonel and his driver were killed by a roadside bomb in the western city of Hit, while seven other policemen and four civilians were injured in bombings in Ramadi and Baghdad, according to police officers in the cities.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the press.