Officials said Al Zubaydi targeted Shi'ites as well as foreign
diplomats. They said he masterminded the abduction and execution of Russian
diplomats in 2006 in Baghdad. A video showed Al Zubaydi shooting one of the
Russians.
Al Zubaydi, formerly of Ansar Al Islam, was linked to the Al Qaida
leadership, officials said. They said he selected targets and helped
assemble car bombs and suicide bomb vests.
"He allegedly ordered and directed a car-bombing attack May 1 that
killed one American soldier and wounded three soldiers and three Iraqi
civilians," the U.S. military said. "Detainee reporting puts him at the
scene of the crime."
Meanwhile, Iraq's government has demanded accountability from the
security forces amid a spate of Al Qaida suicide bombings.
Officials said Prime Minister Nour Al Maliki has warned that he would
dismiss or transfer military and police commanders who fail to ensure
security around Baghdad and other key cities. They said Al Maliki has
ordered investigations into several Al Qaida suicide bombings in the Iraqi
capital in September 2008.
"Senior commanders will be called to take responsibility for breaches of
security," an official said.
On Oct. 2, Al Maliki fired a senior military commander responsible for a
portion of the Baghdad region. The commander was said to have headed the
Iraq Army's First Brigade, which oversees police operations in much of
Baghdad.
The U.S. military has reported an 80 percent drop in insurgency attacks
in Iraq since June 2007. Officials said the decline stemmed from the erosion
of the Al Qaida network in such provinces as Anbar, Baghdad and Diyala.
"We are respectful of AQI as a threat, but we will continue to degrade
their capability and prevent them from destabilizing the great progress
being achieved by Iraqi security forces and Coalition forces here," U.S.
Army Brig. Gen. Daniel Allyn, chief of staff of Multi-National Corps-Iraq,
said.
In an Oct. 2 briefing, Allyn said the military has disrupted the flow of
Al Qaida fighters from neighboring Syria. He said the U.S.-led coalition has
also blocked the arrival of insurgents and weapons from Iran. On Oct. 5, a
convoy that contained Western contractors was bombed in the southern city of
Basra.
"We continue to focus on preventing Iran from supplying lethal
accelerants that are intended to destabilize the government and also
preventing foreign fighters from crossing the boarder from Syria," Allyn
said. "As we look down the road at deeper threats that face this country,
enabling Iraq to secure its own boarders is essential to their long-term
stability."
