Thursday, August 6, 2009
Arrests of major Al Qaida leaders rock Iraq
BAGHDAD — The Al Qaida network was said to have been badly damaged by a
series of arrests in Iraq.
Details from the investigations leading to the operations have shocked Iraqis.
The Iraqi government has, for example, announced the capture of an Al
Qaida agent accused of killing a television journalist in 2006. Yasser
Mohammed Al Takhi, the detainee, gave a confession broadcast by Iraqi
television that described the abduction, rape and execution of Iraqi
journalist Atwar Bahjat outside Samara. Ms. Bahjat was a correspondent for
the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite television.
"I got in the car and told Atwar that she was beautiful, that I liked
the way she looked and I would like to have fun with her," Takhi said. "She
answered that it was not her job. I told her, 'It is not up to you.'"
Iraqi security spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta said three youngsters
recruited by Al Qaida were also captured. Atta said Al Qaida was recruiting
children, single and divorced women to carry out suicide attacks for as
little as $8.
"They did this for money, not ideology," Atta said.
One of the Al Qaida-recruited teenagers was 17-year-old Ahmad Abdullah,
accused of planting bombs in attacks against Iraq Army patrols. Abdullah, a
resident of Baghdad, was said to have been trained in the detonation of car
bombs and operated in both the Iraqi capital and Mosul.
"This operation is the result of a long-term investigation by the Iraqi
army and police forces," a U.S. military statement said.
On Aug. 4, the U.S. military reported the capture of the commander of
an AQI cell that operated in Mosul. Fakir Hadi Gari, arrested on July 24,
was accused of organizing and financing suicide and other attacks as deputy
commander of the Al Qaida-aligned Ansar Al Islam, founded in 2002 in the
Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.
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