[On July 26, at least 25 Shi'ite pilgrims were killed in two car bombs
in the southern city of Karbala. Officials said Al Qaida was believed to
have conducted the attack.]
Al Askari said Zubaie was captured on late July 21 in Tikrit, regarded
as a major stronghold of Al Qaida and the Baath Party of the late President
Saddam Hussein. The ministry spokesman said Zubaie was determined to have
planned the suicide attack that killed at least 45 people, most of them
members of the U.S.-founded Sahwa auxiliary police west of Baghdad, several
days earlier.
Officials said Zubaie was the planner of other mass-casualty suicide
attacks in 2010. They also cited suicide bombings against Shi'ite pilgrims
and in Shi'ite neighborhoods around Baghdad.
Al Qaida has claimed responsibility for several recent mass-casualty
strikes. This included the car bombing at the Sahwa facility west of Baghdad
in late July.
The Iraqi government has reported the arrest of additional senior AQI
operatives in Tikrit. They included two brothers, Jabir and Zaidi Khaddouri,
identified as commanders of AQI in the Diyala province. One of the six
detainees was alleged to have been assigned by Al Qaida to recruitment and
weapons smuggling.
"The arrests were based on accurate intelligence," an Iraqi military
statement said.
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