The U.S. military said Mohammed Abdullah Abbas Al Issawi was killed on
April 20 in a coalition operation northwest of Baghdad. The military said Al
Issawi, also known as Abdul Sattar and Abu Akram, was an Al Qaida commander
in the Ameriya and Karmah areas around the Iraqi capital, Middle East Newsline reported.
Al Issawi was also identified as the so-called emir, or chief, of Al
Qaida in Anbar. Al Qaida was said to have established a major presence in
the eastern province.
"Coalition forces used appropriate self-defense measures and engaged the
armed men, killing two and detaining one," a military statement said on
Wednesday. "One of the terrorists killed has been positively identified as
Abu Abdul Sattar."
[On Thursday, the U.S. military reported the arrest of the commander of
a U.S. military prison in Iraq. The military has not detailed the
accusations against Lt. Col. William Steele, who was taken for detention in
Kuwait. U.S. media reports said Steele has been accused of a range of
security violations.]
Al Issawi was said to have been a leading associate of the late Al Qaida
chief Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi, killed in a U.S. air strike in 2006. The Anbar
chief was also said to have been a weapons supplier to the Sunni insurgency
and linked to the recent surge in chlorine vehicle-borne improvised
explosive device strikes across Iraq.
Officials said Al Issawi's cell used 12-year-old children as VBIED
drivers. They said Al Qaida's use of children as suicide bombers was growing
around the Baghdad area.
"Abu Abdul Satter's death is a serious disruption to Al Qaida in Iraq's
VBIED network," U.S. coalition spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said.
On April 24, an Al Qaida-aligned group claimed responsibility for a
suicide strike during the previous day in which nine U.S. soldiers were
killed and 20 injured. The attack took place in the Diyala province north of
Baghdad.
"The suicide brigades are continually increasing, and so are the
'intruding brigades,'" Al Qaida said.
