Al Jazeera English - News - Al-Qaeda Leader In Iraq Arrested

UPDATED ON:
THURSDAY, MAY 08, 2008
23:44 MECCA TIME, 20:44 GMT

NEWS MIDDLE EAST





Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq arrested

A joint Iraqi-US operation undertook the operation [FIle: AFP]

Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, has been arrested in Iraq, according to the country's defence ministry.

The arrest occurred in the northern city of Mosul and was reported on al-Arabiya TV and Iraqi state television late on Thursday.

Al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was detained in a joint Iraqi-US 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.

The US military did not immediately confirm the arrest.

He is the successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who was killed by a US air attack in 2006.

The pair were close associates and al-Muhajir had a US bounty of $5m on his head.

Al-Masri joined an extremist group led by al-Zarqawi in 1982 according to US officials.

He then graduated to al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 before travelling to Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003.

Source: Agencies

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