Free Republic

The British hostage Peter Moore was dramatically set free yesterday after the United States handed over an Iraqi insurgent suspected of planning the deaths of five American servicemen. Mr Moore, an IT consultant, was freed by League of the Righteous, or Asaib al-Haq (AAH) — an extremist Shia group allied to Iran — after 31 months and spent his first night of freedom at the British Embassy in Baghdad. He is expected to fly home today.

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A senior al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan who escaped last year from Bagram prison has been captured, U.S. military sources said Monday. Abu Nasir al-Qahtani was among six people arrested last Monday during a raid by coalition and Afghan forces in Khost province, the sources said. A coalition military press release issued at the time of al-Qahtani's arrest described him only as a "known al Qaeda terrorist" and said he was taken into custody along with Saudi and Pakistani nationals. Al-Qahtani was one of four al Qaeda detainees who escaped from the high-security detention facility at...

Qayis and Layith Qazali. Click to view. The kidnapping of five British contractors - four security guards and a financial consultant - has long been suspected of being an Iranian-backed job. A recent report in the Times Online confirmed an Iranian extremist group has demanded the release of Qais Qazali, the leader of the Iranian-backed Qazali network, in exchange for the five Britons. "Senior Iraqi government sources say their captors have promised they will not be harmed but any rescue attempt would endanger them," the Times Online reported. "They claimed the hostages will remain prisoners 'for as long as...

REBUILDING IN THE GULF Iraqis exact revenge on Saddam's regime Former Baath Party officials killed in systematic assassinations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 20, 2003 1:25 p.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Liberated Iraqi citizens are taking matters in their own hands and have begun assassinating former ruling Baath Party officials, reports the Washington Post. The killings of mid-level government functionaries and Baathist icons, according to the Post, appear to have increased following the U.S. decree last Friday that prohibits senior party officials from holding positions in the top three tiers of Iraq's postwar government. In one example, the singer Daoud Qais, known...