BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has captured two Al Qaida operatives in
Iraq, including one said to have organized the abduction of a Christian Science Monitor correspondent.
The military identified the two Al Qaida leaders as Ali Rash Nasir
Jiyad Al Shammari and Salim Abdallah Ashur Al Shujayri. Al Shammari was said
to have been the senior adviser of Al Qaida in Baghdad while Al Shujayri
served as Al Qaida chief of Baghdad's Rusafa district.
Al Shammari, known as Abu Tiba, was captured on Aug. 17, the military
said in a statement on Aug. 24. Officials said Al Shammari headed Al Qaida
in 2007 and facilitated the movement of senior operatives in Baghdad.
Al Shujayri, also known as Abu Uthman, was detained on Aug. 11. The
military said Abu Uthman was responsible for a series of abductions,
includnig that of Christian Science Monitor correspondent Jill Carroll in
2006.
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"The capture of Abu Tiba and Abu Uthman eliminates two of the few
remaining experienced leaders in the AQI [Al Qaida in Iraq] network," U.S.
military spokesman Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll said.
[On Aug. 25, Iraqi officials reported the capture of a female suicide
cell linked to Al Qaida. They said two of the members were a mother and her
teenage daughter who lived in the Iraqi province of Diyala.]
Officials said the arrests were meant to block the return of Al Qaida to
Baghdad. They said Al Qaida operatives reestablished an operational presence
responsible for a series of mass-casualty strikes in the Iraqi capital
during the summer of 2008.
On Aug. 24, at least 25 people were killed in an Al Qaida suicide
bombing in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib district. The attacker targeted the home of
a tribal leader, who was holding a feast for his son.
The U.S. military also reported the capture of two Al Qaida-aligned
insurgents in Mosul. Another two Islamic insurgency fugitives, said to have
facilitated the flow of volunteers, were arrested along the Iraqi border
with Syria.
