Al-Qaeda In Iraq Leader Captured
BREITBART.COM-Insurgent Leader Nabbed in Iraq Raid
The leader of the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq has been captured in a raid west of Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman said Friday.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was captured Friday in a raid in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman of the Baghdad security operation. U.S. officials had no confirmation of the capture.
"One of the terrorists who was arrested with him confessed that the one in our hands is al-Baghdadi," al-Moussawi said.
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-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Baghdadi was said to have headed the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an alliance of al-Qaida and other jihadist organizations, 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 militant Web site.
This is the biggest news to come out of Iraq since Al-Zarqawi was killed. Of course another will take his place, but with troop surge and the Iraqi police and military starting to step up, this may be what eliminates them from being a larger threat.
***UPDATE***
Turns out that it wasn't Al-Baghdadi.
BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials said Saturday they were holding a top Al Qaeda official, but not the terror mastermind Abu Omar al-Baghdadi who they believed was captured a day earlier.
"After preliminary investigations, it was proven that the arrested Al Qaeda person is not Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, but, in fact, another important Al Qaeda official," said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, an Iraqi military spokesman. "Interrogations and investigations are still under way to get more information."
It was al-Mousawi who announced late Friday that al-Baghdadi had been captured.
A senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also told The Associated Press that al-Baghdadi had been taken into custody. The adviser spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
The reported arrest followed rumors this week that al-Baghdadi's brother had been arrested in a raid near Tikrit.
Almost nothing is known of al-Baghdadi, including his real name and what he looks like, and his capture would be difficult for officials to verify.
