Posted on 03/05/2007 10:30:29 PM PST by jmc1969
Iraqi and American forces captured leader of the so-called Iraq Islamic State near Baghdad Monday, part of a wide-scale offensive against hideouts of Iraqi Islamic State militias.
Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, the Amir of the Iraqi Islamic State, and four of his aides were arrested near Baghdad, security sources, requesting anonymity, told KUNA.
Iraqi and American forces were carrying out military operations against hideouts in southern and northern Baghdad, said the sources.
Head of the national center for general command in the interior ministry brigadier Abdulkareem Khalaf refused to confirm the arrest but said "the next hourrs will witness interesting details." Two brothers of Al-Baghdadi were arrested in Al-Alam area in northern Baghdad, said Khalaf, while other militiamen were arrested elsewhere, said Khalaf.
Khalaf said the Iraqi forces captured 20 Al-Qaeda militants in Beiji area. He added the military operations are ongoing until the elimination of all militias.
(Excerpt) Read more at kuna.net.kw ...
It pays to have enough troops to cover many different parts of Baghdad at once finally.
From the Blogosphere:
Looks Like US Nabbed Latest al Qaeda Leader In Iraq...misreported
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Update: Looks like the news was slightly mis-reported. It seems the man arrested was the deputy leader - so could the leader be far behind? Still a good catch, not as good as reported below. end update
More great news from Iraq, and another blow to the Democrats’ surrender monkey plan as al Qaeda’s successor to Zarqawi was captured Sunday.
A suspected leader of the group Islamic State in Iraq, which has ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, was detained in northern Iraq on Sunday, Iraqi security forces reported.
Muharib Mohammed Abdullah, aka Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, was arrested in a joint raid by Iraqi and US soldiers in the city of Duluiya.
“This is a great success for the Iraqi security forces, comparable to the killing of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi,” the Salaheddin provincial administration in the town of Tikrit said in a statement.
Someone needs to remind Murtha, Pelosi and Reid these kinds of successes are not possible if we turn tail and have our troops hide out in Okinawa. And pity the liberal fool who claims NOW is the time to pull the funds from our effort to squash al Qaeda in Iraq and finally get some stability for the country. In other news, the US surge is now purging Sadr city as well:
More than 1,000 US and Iraqi troops launched a pivotal incursion into a Shi’ite militia bastion in Baghdad yesterday, meeting no resistance as they searched homes for illegal weapons and carried out patrols.
The operations in Sadr City, stronghold of the Mehdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, could test Iraqi and US determination to enforce a security crackdown regarded as a last attempt to stop Iraq sliding into all-out sectarian civil war.
“Deliberate clearing operations have begun in Sadr City,” said US military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver. More raids will follow in the coming days, he said.
The success of this action could be in part by al Qaeda and the insurgents getting too confident the Democrats would surrender to them and being caught off guard and exposed. Surely they did not expect an increase in intensity, and probably are now stuck in hidey holes as Iraqi and US forces do their sweeps and pick these animals up.
The Arab media in Iraq and outside is all reporting that he and his number two have been nabbed along with his brothers.
We will see soon enough.
Deputy leader of Iraqi militant group arrested
Posted on : Mon, 05 Mar 2007 09:53:01 GMT | Author : DPA
Baghdad- The Iraqi Interior Ministry announced Monday it arrested the deputy leader of the Islamic state in Iraq militant movement, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, in Duluiyah, north of Baghdad, Iraq news agency reported. Al-Jabouri, known by the alias Abu-Abdullah, is the deputy of the movement's leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the self-titled "Emir of believers."
The Islamic State in Iraq is a Sunni movement linked to the al- Qaeda terrorist network. It was established in 2006 with the stated aim of protecting Iraqi Sunnis and is composed of a variety of insurgency groups aiming to found a caliphate in the Sunni Arab dominated regions of Iraq.
Well now we know.
We didn't catch the guy we thought we had caught last night....according to the links I just put up!
Where is that ol' sparky...you know the one that emits electrical charges....
I hear this guy had poor dentures and needs some work.
Hope it's true....seems like there is some confusion for no good reason....
The fog of war. In the long run, the good guys are favored (IMHO).
I think AJStrata kind of jumped the gun at first reporting it like it was certain, and then drew back a bit too far in his update. Roggio was much more cautious from the outset in his commenting.
" . . . he and his number two have been nabbed along with his brothers . . ."
At this rate, I hope they also nabbed his mother-in-law's twin sister.
If that turns out to be true, it means we're rolling up a bunch of them. Intel avalanche maybe?
Militiaman? Sounds like such an honorable positon. On 9/11, was the WTC and the Pentagon entered by 19 militiamen?
March 05, 2007
Iraqi Security Forces: al-Qaeda leader captured (Updated & Bumped)
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Still working on confirmation.
Update: The Iraqi MOI (Ministry of the Interior) now says Abdullah Latif al-Jaburi - aka Abu Abdullah the #2 man of the Islamic State in Iraq - has been captured, not al-Baghdadi as had been initially reported.
UpdateII: IraqSlogger reports:
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi "Apprehended"
Second Unconfirmed Report of Militant Leader's Capture in Two Days
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, chief of the militant group Islamic State of Iraq, has been captured, according to an unconfirmed report.
Buratha news reported Monday that "knowledgable sources" had informed the news agency of al-Baghdadi's capture in the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, along with four others.
According to the sources, a formal announcement of al-Baghdadi's arrest will be issued in "the coming hours," Buratha reports.
Jeez, we got him, we don't got him, we got him, where's Baghdad Bob when you need him.
By traderrob at March 5, 2007 03:38 PM
Well from what the JAWA Report is passing on....maybe we will know tomorrow....sure would be Nice to have him....
...and only one of the five surge brigades going to Baghdad is operating. A brigade of the 1st Division(Fort Riley Kansas) is arriving in country this week.
2 of the 3 planned Iraqi surge brigades are in there I believe.
How many of these "top" guys are there?
Baghdadi is the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq, which is basically all the main Sunni insurgent groups we are fighting in Iraq.
Symbolically he is the leader of the insurgency in Iraq. His death could splinter the Islamic State in Iraq.
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