Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq arrested: report

Reuters ^ | May 8 2008 | Reuters

[balls]

DUBAI (Reuters) - The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, has been arrested, the Arabic television station al-Arabiya reported on Friday, quoting the Iraqi Defense Ministry.

Arabiya said Muhajir had been detained in a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The U.S. military said it had no information on the reports at this stage.

[balls]

Sweeeet!

[ALASKA]

Dust off the waterboarding equipment............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Empireoftheatom48]

Did they get Jimmy Hoffa too? We have heard this stuff before.

[LtKerst]

They Keep setting them up...and we keep knocking them down....

[Jeff Chandler]

Obama says he wants to talk with him and work out an understanding. He Obama is not frightened by people who look different than he; different doesn’t mean deficient.

G D America!

[balls]

" ... Al Qaeda in Iraq was headed by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi until he was killed in a U.S. air strike in June 2006. His successor, Muhajir, an Egyptian also known as Abu Ayyab al-Masri, was Zarqawi's close associate, and has a U.S. bounty of $5 million on his head."

[STARWISE]

FNC: Leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq Arrested in Mosul

The leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province. There was no immediate confirmation or comment from U.S. forces.

News of the arrest was also reported by Iraqi state television.

"The commander of Ninevah military operations informed me that Iraqi troops captured Abu Hamza al-Muhajir the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq," al-Askari told The Associated Press by telephone.

He did not have any further details nor did he say when the Al Qaeda leader was arrested. According to unconfirmed reports, however, he was caught Thursday evening in the Tayran area in central Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. Mosul is currently a major battleground for U.S. forces and Al Qaeda.

Al-Masri took over Al Qaeda in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed June 7, 2006 in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.

U.S. officials said al-Masri joined an extremist group led by al-Qaida's No.2 official. He later joined Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

~~~~

(Note: presently unconfirmed conclusively as yet by the US ... ALSO, the man Fox is showing looks nothing like Al Masri.

[Bahbah]

According to unconfirmed reports, however, he was caught Thursday evening

If true, I hope that means they wanted a couple of days to "chat" with him before releasing any information.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Caution is in order...from the Blogosphere:

Abu Ayyub al-Masri Reportedly Captured

*****************************

Abu Ayyub al-Masri Reportedly Captured

We're hearing all over that the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been captured. He also holds the position of Minister of War in the fictional Islamic State of Iraq. This guy has been reported dead or captured more times than a dog has fleas. I'd take it with a grain of salt until confirmed.

AP Via Yahoo News: BAGHDAD - The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province. There was no immediate confirmation or comment from U.S. forces on the arrest.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said "we are currently checking with Iraqi authorities to confirm the accuracy of this information."

Not hammer time quite yet.

And just yesterday we had this:

Report: Al Qaeda in Iraq Leader Identified With Photo

************************EXCERPT**********************

CAIRO, Egypt —  Al-Arabiya television reports it has identified the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq and the network broadcast his photograph.

The Dubai-based network, citing an Iraqi police official, said the real name of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who allegedly heads the Islamic State of Iraq, is Hamid Dawoud al-Zawi.

[STARWISE]

I’m thinking there are some pretty
serious heart-to-hearts, mano a mano,
occurring as we speak.

This is a big fish .. he’s full of
valuable info.

We .. must .. get .. it .... ALL.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

If he is really who AQI wants us to think he is....time will tell.

It is interesting that a Photo with a name is identified as the head one day and the very next day his arrest is reported....

[Chode]

strap that POS down, get out the electric probes, open his back up to expose his spine and make him think he is on fire inside and out head and all!!!

all without any real damage to the body

i guarantee he will get his mind right

[Bahbah]

We .. must .. get .. it .... ALL.

By any means necessary.

[txhurl]

Lol, I picture a game of Operation

Gone really interesting.

[csvset]

Dust off the waterboarding equipment............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sort of like the scene from Pulp Fiction, modified a bit..

You hear me talkin', Al Qaeda boy?
I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'm gonna get medieval on your ass.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

Good news, but please, nobody tell Barry Obama.

If he finds al Qaida in Iraq, he's going to send in the military, after he takes them out of course, and this really confuses things.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Reuters UK Report ...

Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq reportedly arrested

**********************************************

Thu May 8, 2008 11:13pm BST

By Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. forces have detained a man suspected of being the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Iraqi security officials said on Friday.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said it was checking the reports that Abu Ayyab al-Masri, an Egyptian also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, had been caught in the northern city of Mosul.

If confirmed, the arrest would be another blow for Sunni Islamist al Qaeda in Iraq, which has reeled under a wave of U.S. military operations in the past year.

Iraq's Defence Ministry spokesman Major-General Mohammed al-Askari told Reuters the head of the local province's security operations had told him that Masri had been detained.

"Now the American forces have taken him to identify him," Askari said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said an associate of Masri who had been detained in an earlier operation took security forces late on Wednesday to where the al Qaeda leader was hiding in Mosul.

After being detained, Masri had confessed to being the al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Khalaf said, adding his identity still had to be confirmed.

U.S. officials blame al Qaeda in Iraq for most big bombings in the country, including an attack on a revered Shi'ite shrine in Samarra in February 2006 that sparked a wave of sectarian carnage that nearly tipped Iraq into all-out civil war.

But a buildup of U.S. troops last year allowed the military to focus a series of offensives against the group. The emergence of Sunni Arab tribal security units also helped to provide intelligence on al Qaeda activities.

URBAN STRONGHOLD

The result was al Qaeda has largely been pushed out of Baghdad and its former stronghold in western Anbar province to areas in northern Iraq, such as Mosul.

American generals say Mosul is al Qaeda in Iraq's last remaining urban stronghold in the country.

But U.S. commanders warn that the group, while significantly weakened, can still carry out large-scale attacks.

Al Qaeda in Iraq was headed by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi until he was killed in a U.S. air strike in June 2006.

His successor, Masri, was Zarqawi's close associate, and has a U.S. bounty of $5 million (2.6 million pounds) on his head.

In October 2006, the al Qaeda-led Mujahideen Shura Council said it had set up the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni militant affiliates and tribal leaders.

In April 2007 it named a 10-man "cabinet", including Masri as its war minister.

Iraq's Interior Ministry said last May that Masri had been killed, but soon afterwards al Qaeda released an audio tape purportedly from him.

In an hour-long audio tape issued last month, Masri called for renewed attacks on American troops.

He urged militants from the Sunni Islamist group to "celebrate" the recent announcement that the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq had passed 4,000.

"We must celebrate this event in our special way, and make the defeated Bush join us in this celebration," he said.

He called on al Qaeda fighters to provide "a head of an American as a present to the trickster Bush" in a month-long campaign that he called the "Attack of Righteousness".

Al Qaeda in Iraq shares a name and ideology if not organisational ties with Osama bin Laden's network, which was blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

(Additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Baghdad and Inal Ersan in Dubai, Writing by Dean Yates, Editing by Kevin Liffey)

[Chode]

my neighbor had that game, its alot harder when yer drunk... 8^)

[Dog]

The 48 hour rule is now in effect.....the US needs to confirm it within that 48 time frame or we discount this “arrest”.

[sanchmo]

We’re gonna need a hacksaw.