U.S. Forces Capture Six 'Closely Tied' to Saddam

Here's an update from AFP on the Ansar al-Islam guy:

http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=4698

"07/02/2004 AFP SULEIMANIYAH, Iraq, Feb 6 (AFP) - 15h23 - Kurdish security forces have arrested a suspected member of the Islamist extremist group Ansar al-Islam as he tried to flee Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, a political official said Friday."

"'Security forces from the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) arrested Warzar Ali Wali near Penjwin, while he tried to return to the Sunni regions,' said a PUK official on condition of anonymity."

"Close to the northern Iraq-Iran border, Penjwin is 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Suleimaniyah."

"The source said the man had not been arrested over Sunday’s twin suicide bombings in the Kurdish town of Arbil that targeted the offices of the PUK and its rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), killing at least 105 people."

"Ansar al-Islam, which controlled an enclave of northeast Iraq before being crushed by US forces at the end of March, is suspected of links to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network. "

"The little-known Ansar al-Sunna group claimed responsibility for the attack in Arbil, while expressing sympathies with the "brothers" of Ansar al-Islam."

Well, AP looks like they’ve just put up a bit more info on the Ansar al-Islam guy:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-02-07-iraq_x.htm

"Elsewhere, U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Iraq captured a suspected member of Ansar al-Islam, a radical Muslim group, as he tried to enter the country from Iran, an Iraqi official said."

"U.S. and Kurdish officials believe Ansar al-Islam is linked to al-Qaeda and may have been behind last weekend's twin suicide bombings in the northern city of Irbil. . . ."

"The alleged Ansar al-Islam member, Warzir Ali Wali Mamoyi, was arrested Thursday at a checkpoint in Kurdish-controlled Sulaimaniyah province, according to Omar Ghareeb, a local civil administration official."

"He described Mamoyi as a member of a committee that issues policy statements for Ansar al-Islam, a mostly Kurdish militant group that follows a strict interpretation of Islam."

"Kurdish officials believe Ansar al-Islam carried out the Sunday suicide bombings at the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Irbil. Another group, the Ansar al-Sunna Army, claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed 109 people, in a statement posted on a Web site. U.S. officers believe Ansar al-Sunna is a splinter group of Ansar al-Islam."

"A Kurdish newspaper, Kurdistani Nuwe, said Friday that Mamoyi was planning to travel to the Sunni Triangle area, possibly to link up with anti-U.S. insurgents from the former regime of Saddam Hussein."

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