BAGHDAD – Iraq has captured what officials termed a commander of Al Qaida responsible for a bombing campaign in the nation's capital.
Officials said the commander recruited operatives and planned numerous suicide car bombings in the Baghdad area over the last four months. They said the Al Qaida insurgent was responsible for most of the suicide attacks around the city.
Al Qaida has claimed responsibility for numerous car bombings against Iraqi politicians and security forces over the last month. On Monday, a suicide operative blew up his car at a police checkpoint that led to the office of the Iraqi National Accord, headed by Prime Minister Iyad Alawi.
The Al Qaida commander was identified as Sami Mohammed Ali Said Al Jaaf. An Iraqi government statement on Monday said Al Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar Al Kurdi, was arrested during a raid in Baghdad on Jan. 15.
The statement said Al Jaaf was responsible for 32 car bombings that killed hundreds of Iraqis. Al Jaaf was said to have been operating in the Baghdad area since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
"Kurdi confessed to building approximately 75 percent of the car bombs used in attacks in Baghdad since March 2003," the statement said. "Kurdi also confirmed that he was responsible for some of the bloody attacks against police."
Al Qaida in Iraq was said to have been led by Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi. In 2004, his Tawhid and Jihad group announced a merger with Al Qaida and began to operate under the latter.
"We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," an audiotape that purports to be Al Zarqawi said. "Anyone who tries to help set up this system is part of it."
The statement, issued by Alawi's office, termed Al Jaaf "the most lethal of Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi's lieutenants. Al Jaaf claims responsibility for some of the most ruthless attacks on Iraqi police forces and police stations."
Another two operatives from Al Zarqawi's network were also arrested. Officials said one of them, Nayef Abbas Al Zubeidi, was termed the chief propagandist of Al Qaida, who also supplied weapons and explosives.
