Al-Qaida Associate Detained in Iraq

AP | 4/29/03 | JOHN J. LUMPKIN

[kattracks]

Al-Qaida Associate Detained in Iraq

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN .c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. forces near Baghdad have captured a man they describe as a midlevel terrorist operative with links to al-Qaida, a counterterrorism official said Tuesday.

The operative, whose name was not provided, works for Abu Musab Zarqawi, a senior associate of Osama bin Laden, the official said, speaking on the condition of anoymity.

The capture occurred this week, the official said.

Zarqawi, linked to the death of an American diplomat in Jordan last year, is one of the Bush administration's links between al-Qaida and the regime of Saddam Hussein. He is also among the administration's most-wanted al-Qaida figures.

Zarqawi fled Afghanistan during the U.S.-led war to oust the Taliban. He passed through Iran and then received medical treatment in Baghdad in mid-2002, U.S. officials have said.

During this time, several of his associates, affiliated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, joined him in the city. The Egyptian Islamic Jihad is considered merged with al-Qaida.

It is unclear if the captured operative was one of those associates.

Zarqawi left Baghdad, but those associates remained, officials have said. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Both Zarqawi and the captured man are also suspected of links to Ansar al-Islam, an Islamic extremist group in northern Iraq composed of ethnic Kurds. The group's camps were bombed heavily by U.S. forces during the war.

Officials suspect Zarqawi is linked to a plan to use poison against European targets late last year. They also say he took part in a foiled plot to bomb a tourist hotel in Amman, Jordan, during millennium celebrations.

04/29/03 19:54 EDT

[MEG33]

May he lead us to more of his kind.

[patriciaruth]

I've heard rumors that both Zaqawi and bin Laden's second, Egyptian physician Zawahiri, are now in Iran.

[Bonaparte]

"Al-Qaida Associate..."

Isn't AP cute? These guys are no longer terrorists, they're "associates," as though they were in a law firm.

[randita]

Both Zarqawi and the captured man are also suspected of links to Ansar al-Islam, an Islamic extremist group in northern Iraq composed of ethnic Kurds. The group's camps were bombed heavily by U.S. forces during the war.

Officials suspect Zarqawi is linked to a plan to use poison against European targets late last year.

Ricin? Weren't traces of ricin found at the Ansar al-Islam terrorist training camp?

[piasa]

fyi... Zarqawi associate nabbed in Iraq, Ansar al Islam & Al Qaeda

[Cindy]

re post No. 5...

Here's your answer:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/883663/posts

SNIPPET: "FBI ON RICIN ALERT
New York Post ^ | 4/03/02 | BRIAN BLOMQUIST

Posted on 04/03/2003 1:16 AM PST by kattracks


April 3, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - The FBI issued a frightening intelligence bulletin yesterday, warning field agents to be alert for terrorists trying to make chemical weapons such as ricin.

The warning came as military intelligence officials gathered evidence in terrorist camps in northeastern Iraq of attempts to produce ricin and other chemical and biological weapons.

The FBI has been made aware of the material gathered at the camps run by Ansar al Islam, a terror group linked to al Qaeda.

Yesterday's bulletin, based on counter-terrorism investigations, said events including the January 2003 arrests in Britain of Algerian extremists "apparently attempting to produce ricin toxin in their residences" demonstrate "an ongoing interest among terrorists in developing improvised weapons of mass destruction."



U.S. officials say the ricin found with the London terrorists came from Abu Musaab Zarqawi, an international terrorist who operated from the Ansar al Islam camps.

The bulletin warned that killer poisons can be easy to make."