Al-Qaeda Leader Captured in Iraq

Al-Qaeda Leader Captured in Iraq
CBN News
December 20, 2006

CBNNews. com - BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-led forces captured a senior al-Qaeda leader responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths and for sheltering multinational suicide bombers, the U.S. military announced Wednesday.

Without identifying him, the statement said the suspect was arrested on December 14 in Mosul, where he served as al-Qaeda's military chief in 2005 before assuming the same position in western Baghdad.

"The terrorist leader was attempting to flee from the location when coalition forces chased him across a street and detained him," the statement read.

"During that time, he coordinated car vehicle-borne improvised explosives device attacks and kidnap-for-ransom operations in Baghdad," the military said. It also cited reports stating that he organized an attempted attack on a U.S. military helicopter in May 2006.

"After a few months, he fled Baghdad due to coalition forces closing in on him," the statement said.

The military believes his capture will lead them closer to Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took over as leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq after his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike last June.

Mouwafak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, said that 60 percent of al-Qaeda leadership in Iraq has been captured or killed.

Source: The Associated Press
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