Excellent, excellent news.
LOL, this is like a James Bond movie, huh?
U.S. captures 33 suspects; al-Qaida figure, but not al-Baghdadi, arrested
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BAGHDAD (AP) - U.S.-led raids captured 33 suspects overnight across Iraq, while Iraqi authorities on Saturday questioned a suspected al-Qaida leader captured a day earlier west of Baghdad.
The suspect in Iraqi custody was originally identified as terror mastermind Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, but officials later said he was another top al-Qaida leader.
"After preliminary investigations, it was proven that the arrested al-Qaida person is not Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, but, in fact, another important al-Qaida official," said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, an Iraqi military spokesman. "Interrogations and investigations are still under way to get more information."
Al-Mousawi declined to give the suspect's name on Saturday.
It was al-Mousawi who announced late Friday that al-Baghdadi had been captured. A senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also had 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.
Al-Mousawi said the suspect at first identified himself as al-Baghdadi, and that his identity was corroborated by another man captured with him. The reported arrest followed rumours 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; his capture would be difficult for officials to verify.
He is believed to lead the shadowy Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida-inspired group that challenged the authority of Iraq's elected government. He has also signed militant messages posted online, as the leader of the Mujahedeen Shura Council - an umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq.
An alleged member of the Islamic State of Iraq was captured along with 17 other suspects early Saturday in another raid in Taji, an area on the northern outskirts of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. Another man was killed in the raid.
The Taji operation was the largest of several U.S.-led raids across Iraq late Friday and early Saturday, in which 33 people were arrested, the military said.
The raids targeted al-Qaida in Iraq and locals accused of providing support to the terror group, it said.
In Baghdad's Sadr City neighbourhood, Iraqi special forces teams backed by U.S. soldiers detained six suspects believed to be a rogue members of the Mahdi Army, the U.S. military said in another statement.
The suspects were accused of co-ordinating and carrying out kidnappings and murders of Iraqi civilians, the statement said.
The Mahdi Army is a powerful Shiite militia led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Eight suspects were captured in Mosul, 360 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, and one man was arrested in Ramadi, 115 kilometres west of Baghdad, a statement said.