BAGHDAD, Iraq - Authorities on Sunday announced the capture of al-Qaida in Iraq's No. 2 leader, accusing him of “brutal and merciless” terror operations, including the bombing of a Shiite shrine that touched off the sectarian bloodletting pushing Iraq toward civil war.
Iraq's national security adviser said Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was arrested a few days ago as he hid in a residential building southwest of Baqouba.
The arrest has left al-Qaida in Iraq suffering a “serious leadership crisis,” national security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said. “Our troops have dealt fatal and painful blows to this organization.”
He accused the terror suspect of supervising the creation of death squads and ordering assassinations, bombings, kidnappings and attacks on Iraqi police and army checkpoints.
“The operations were brutal and merciless,” al-Rubaie said.
Not much is known about al-Saeedi, but al-Rubaie said he was the second most important al-Qaida in Iraq leader after Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
Al-Masri is believed to have taken over the group after a U.S. air strike killed leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi north of Baghdad on June 7.
The arrest has left al-Qaida in Iraq suffering a “serious leadership crisis,” national security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said. “Our troops have dealt fatal and painful blows to this organization.”
He accused the terror suspect of supervising the creation of death squads and ordering assassinations, bombings, kidnappings and attacks on Iraqi police and army checkpoints.
“The operations were brutal and merciless,” al-Rubaie said.
Not much is known about al-Saeedi, but al-Rubaie said he was the second most important al-Qaida in Iraq leader after Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
Al-Masri is believed to have taken over the group after a U.S. air strike killed leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi north of Baghdad on June 7.
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