Top Ansar al-Islam member arrested in Iraq

Hi Pakistan ^ | March 10 2004 | NA

[Dog]

Top Ansar al-Islam member arrested in Iraq

BAGHDAD: A senior member of a Islamist group accused of links to al Qaeda and involvement in suicide bombings in Iraq has been captured in the northern part of the country, Iraqi Kurdish sources said.

A senior official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said Ayyub Afghani, a top member of the militant Ansar al-Islam group, was arrested in the city of Kirkuk and was being held by U.S. forces. He gave no details on the arrest.

[mware]

Thanks for some good news this morning. Another one bites the dust.

[MEG33]

Good news for the good guys!

[Dog]

He was in the leadership of Ansar al Islam

Here

Some of the group’s leaders nipped across the border to Iran and safety. Among them were Abu-Ubeid al-Shafei, Ayyub al-Afghani, Abu Vael and a man known only as Mansour.

(The names are all aliases and the men may well be al Qaeda fugitives from Afghanistan who fled to Iran together with bona fides Kurdish Ansar leaders).

[Arrowhead1952]

A senior member of a Islamist group accused of links to al Qaeda and involvement in suicide bombings in Iraq has been captured in the northern part of the country, Iraqi Kurdish sources said.

There is no al Qaeda connection in Iraq according to the media.

[nuconvert]

Great!

Thanks

[mware]

There is no al Qaeda connection in Iraq according to the media.

Oh that is right, I forgot. ;)

[atomicpossum]

How many of these losers will we have by election time? The mind boggles.

[nuconvert]

Pong

[Eurotwit]

Has there been any word on Abu Wael?

[ConservativeMan55]

Git a rope.

[Dog]

Cross another one off the dance card..

[nuconvert]

LoL

[nuconvert]

Thanks for the link.
Interesting Iran stuff there.

[Boot Hill]

"...who fled to Iran together with bona fides Kurdish Ansar leaders"

Huh? Could you expand on that thought?

--Boot Hill

[Fedora]

There is no al Qaeda connection in Iraq according to the media.

Oh yeah, I forgot--LOL! :) It always amazes me how short the media's memory is when it comes to this issue--they can't even remember articles they wrote about it during the Clinton administration!--and evidently no one in the media has ever read this book, either:

Yossef Bodansky, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America

In meticulous detail, world-renowned terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky uncovers the events in bin Laden's life that turned the once-promising engineering student into a cold-blooded leader of radical Islam. In the process, Bodansky pulls together a chilling story that is as current as today's headlines but as ancient as the Crusades; a story that transcends bin Laden and any other single man, one that sweeps from Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq to Kosovo and beyond.

Publisher: Prima Lifestyles; (July 7, 1999)

[Coop]

Let's hope and pray he gives up Zarqawi, and maybe even al-Douri, SOON!

[Angelus Errare]

Afghani was formerly the #2 man in Ansar al-Islam and has pretty much taken over with Mullah Krekar stuck in legal limbo in Norway. He's also got ties to the IRGC and Zarqawi and was likely the man to order the Irbil bombings (just think about what that means if he's in Kurdish custody).

He's Zarqawi, but he's just a step under him. And a short one at that.

[Dog]

He is in US custody..

[Angelus Errare]

My mistake, you're right.

As for getting al-Douri, I actually think he's less of a threat than Zarqawi in the long run. Al-Douri strikes me as a moderately competent insurgent leader who is constrained by a number of limitations. Zarqawi, OTOH, has international as well as state connections and is hence the more dangerous of the two.