BAGHDAD — Iraq's capture of the deputy leader of the Al Qaida
network and a series of additional arrests have disrupted the network's efforts to fuel sectarian violence, officials said.
Officials said Iraqi and U.S. troops have arrested the No. 2 figure in
the Al Qaida network in Iraq. They identified the operative as Hamed Jumaa
Farid Al Saeedi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, who had served as an
intelligence officer under the Saddam Hussein regime, Middle East Newsline reported.
"We believe that Al Qaida in Iraq suffers from a serious leadership
crisis," Iraqi National Security Adviser Muwafaq Al Rubaie said. "Our
troops have dealt fatal and painful blows to this organization."
Al Rubaie told a news conference on Sunday that Al Saeedi was arrested
in northern Baghdad on Aug. 31. He said several Al Qaida aides were also
captured.
"He [Al Saeedi] supervised terrorist groups that kidnapped people for
ransom, and killed policemen after they received their salaries in order to
finance terrorist operations," Al Rubaie said. "He used to order terrorist
operations using mortars and roadside bombs, which led to the killing of
several troops and innocent civilians."
The arrest of Al Saeedi led to the capture or death of 11 other top Al
Qaida network figures and nine lower-level members, Al Rubaie said. He said
those arrested included foreign Arab nationals.
Al Saeedi was regarded as the most important figure after Al Qaida
network chief Abu Ayoub Al Masri. Al Masri, whose identity has not been
confirmed, took over the network after the U.S. killing of Abu Mussib Al
Zarqawi on June 7 in an air strike near Baqubah.
Al Rubaie said Al Saeedi was responsible for the Al Qaida bombing of the
Shi'ite Grand Mosque in Samara in February 2006. The Iraqi official said Al
Saeedi sent Haitham Sabah Shaker Mohammed Al Badri to destroy the Shi'ite
shrine, which sparked weeks of intense Sunni-Shi'ite clashes.
"Al Saeedi carried out Al Qaida's policies in Iraq and the orders of the
slain Al Zarqawi to incite sectarian violence in the country, through
attempting to start a civil war between Shi'ites and Sunnis," Al Rubaie
said. "But their wishes did not materialize."
Officials said Al Saeedi has been a senior Al Qaida operative since
2003. They said he was responsible for numerous suicide bomb strikes in the
Baghdad area.
Al Rubaie said Al Qaida in Iraq has been financed from both within the
country and from abroad. He said Al Qaida has been cooperating with members
of the former Saddam Hussein regime "in the fields of exchanging information
and logistic support."
"But the major finance is coming from outside Iraq," Al Rubaie said.
