Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - The Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari claims al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri has been apprehended near Mosul.
According to al Jazeera, al-Masri was detained in a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation. He was caught in the Tayran area in central Mosul, 360km northwest of Baghdad, reportedly after police received a tip off of his location.
While Iraqi officials have confirmed the arrest to media outlets, the United States Defense Department remains silent on this issue for now. The news also ran on al-Arabiya TV and Iraqi state-run media.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces have detained a man suspected of being the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq after a captured associate led them to him sleeping in a house in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi 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 detained.
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 and been forced to regroup in northern Iraq.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said an associate of Masri detained in an earlier operation took security forces late on Wednesday to where the al Qaeda leader was hiding.
After being detained, Masri confessed to being the al Qaeda in Iraq leader, he said, adding that his identity still had to be confirmed. Other Iraqi security officials said the suspect was in American custody for identification.