Al Qaida's leading insurgent in Iraq has narrowly escaped capture by a coalition forces dragnet.

Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Naquib said U.S. and Iraqi forces nearly arrested Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi in late January. Naqib said Al Zarqawi escaped his stronghold about one hour before coalition forces raided the premises.

On Thursday, U.S. Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not confirm Naqib's assertion. But he said Al Zarqawi has been the focus of Iraqi and U.S. intelligence-gathering, Middle East Newsline reported.

"We are following him, I must say that," Naqib told a U.S. Defense Department briefing teleconferenced from Baghdad on Thursday.

Naqib said the Al Qaida organization in Iraq, headed by Al Zarqawi, has been greatly weakened by Iraqi and coalition operations. He said Iraqi authorities have arrested more than 350 insurgents, many of them linked to Al Zarqawi.

"We missed him by about one hour maybe," Naqib said.

"Nobody knows how many times we may have passed or not passed close to Zarqawi," Pace said. "We continue to focus our efforts, intel collection-wise, sharing intel with the Iraqi government; our special operators, their special operators working very hard, collaboratively to get Zarqawi. I do not know when it will happen, but I can tell you we will continue to chase him with the same vigor we did Saddam Hussein."

Naqib said despite the Iraqi and coalition dragnet, Al Zarqawi remains extremely dangerous. The minister, who said he had expected greater violence during election day on Jan. 30, predicted an upsurge in Al Zarqawi and other insurgency attacks over the next few weeks.

"They think once we finished the election our security forces will relax and things will be much easier for them," Naqib said. "I expect they are planning for something. We might see some bad days in the next couple of weeks."

The Iraqi minister said Baghdad's military and security forces have demonstrated increasing capability to conduct independent operations. He said Iraqi forces could achieve full capability to control the nation's borders by August 2006.

At the same time, Al Zarqawi has continued to order fresh attacks against Iraqis and the U.S.-led coalition. On Thursday, Sunni insurgents ambushed an Iraqi police convoy and at least two officers were killed.

"I think we will be able to have a strong security, Iraqi security, a strong Ministry of Interior in Iraq, that can control the security situation in Iraq in 18 months, and of course, controlling the borders," Naqib said. "...If we will continue at the same speed we have been doing for the last four months, I think we will be able to have a good control over our internal security by the Iraqi forces."