Saturday, 10 March 2007The leader of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, has been captured in a raid west of Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman says.
US officials had no confirmation of the statement by Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman of the Baghdad security operation.
Al-Moussawi said al-Baghdadi was captured Friday in a raid in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad.
"One of the terrorists who was arrested with him confessed that the one in our hands is al-Baghdadi," al-Moussawi said.
A prominent Iraqi Shi'ite close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also said al-Baghdadi had been captured. But he spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.
Al-Baghdadi, also known as Abu Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, has been identified in statements posted on Islamic extremist Web sites as the head of the Islamic State, which was proclaimed last year after the death of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraqi, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Baghdadi was said to have headed the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an alliance of al-Qaeda and other jihadist organisations, which was set up last year to downplay the role of foreigners in the Iraqi insurgency.
The name first surfaced after al-Zarqawi's death, when the Mujahedeen Shura Council posted a condolence message on a Web site used by militants in Iraq.
"As for you the slaves of the cross (US-led coalition forces), the grandsons of Ibn al-Alqami (Shi'ites), and every infidel of the Sunnis, we can't wait to sever your necks with our swords," the message read.
It was signed by Abdullah bin Rashid al-Baghdadi, who was identified as the council leader.
On Friday, the Islamic State of Iraq announced it would soon be releasing a video on the death of a US Air Force pilot whose F-16 jet crashed November 27 north of Baghdad, according to the IntelCenter which monitors insurgent Web sites.
The pilot, Maj. Troy L. Gilbert, was listed officially as "whereabouts unknown" but then reported by the US military as dead following DNA tests from remains at the scene.
IntelCenter said it was unclear what the video would show.
10.03.2007
Canberra |
Saturday, 10 March 2007
Iraq
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