Iraq: Top Al-Qaida Figure In Mosul Arrested
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi Interior Ministry reported the arrest Monday of a top al- Qaida in Iraq figure in the northern city of Mosul, where security forces have been carrying out an intensified crackdown to root out the terror network.
But the U.S. military, which is supporting the operation, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking confirmation. Reports of high-level al-Qaida arrests in the past have sometimes proven incorrect.
Abdul-Khaliq al-Sabawi was captured in a morning raid in Salahuddin province, which neighbors Mosul’s Ninevah province to the south, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Taha, the director of the ministry’s internal affairs office, said.
Some of Mosul’s al-Qaida figures are believed to have fled or stayed out of the city before the sweep began more than a week ago—the latest in a series of high-profile operations launched by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to break the hold of armed groups in several areas around the country in the past two months.
So far, more than 1,300 people have been arrested in and around Mosul in the operation, though 240 were cleared of suspicion and released, said Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal, the deputy interior minister for intelligence and security affairs.
Al-Sabawi was al-Qaida in Iraq’s “wali” in Mosul, Taha said. The term “wali,” Arabic for governor, is used by the terror network to refer to its top regional leaders. Taha did not give details on al-Sabawi or where he was arrested.
Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been the most prominent al- Qaida in Iraq urban stronghold since the group lost control of cities in the western province of Anbar over the past year. Al-Qaida militants and other Sunni Arab insurgents have used the city to carry out major attacks in northern and central Iraq in recent months.
(AP)
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Almost looks like the last scene in Battle for Algiers
May 19th, 2008 at 10:34 am