Kurdish security forces have captured 15 militants in northern Iraq, including one man believed to be a senior leader of a local al-Qaida-linked group, an official in a pro-American Kurdish party said Tuesday. Among those arrested late Monday evening was a man identified as Hemen Banishiri, reportedly the second-in-command for the radical Kurdish group, Ansar al-Islam, said Saadi Ahmed, a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's political wing.
| Can we let the Kurds question him, I mean , we don't want to offend his islamic sensibilities? |
The arrests took place in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk and several other towns, Ahmed said. Although Ahmed said U.S. forces participated in the arrests, confirmation from the American military was not immediately available. The PUK and another main Kurdish party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party each has a separate government, based in Sulaimaniyah and Irbil, but are jointly represented in the parliament. Each group has its own security apparatus, which has the power to make arrests and detain suspects. The PUK has been in a state of conflict with Ansar al-Islam for several years. Earlier this month, Kurdish authorities arrested six men believed linked to the group as suspected of carrying out a number attacks and assassination attempts on senior police officials and political leaders.
In Mosul, insurgents clashed with an Iraq National Guard patrol on Tuesday, killing one soldier and injuring nine, authorities said. Two guerrillas hiding in an alley opened up on the passing patrol in Mosul, 250 miles north of Baghdad. The guard forces counterattacked, killing one insurgent and injuring another, said one Iraqi officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. One Iraqi soldier was killed and nine injured during the clash, said Leith Ibrahim, an official at al-Jumhouri hospital. |