 U.S.-led forces in Iraq have captured a senior member of the al Qaeda-linked network led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a raid in Baghdad, the Iraqi government said on Thursday. It said Fadil Hussain Ahmed al-Kurdi was captured along with two other suspected insurgents. It said Kurdi, a 26-year-old Iraqi Kurd also known as Ridha, was the brother of Umar Baziyani, a Zarqawi lieutenant captured in May. "Ridha was responsible for facilitating communications between al Qaeda and the Zarqawi terror networks as well as coordinating the movement of terrorists in and out of Iraq," a government statement said. "Both Ridha and Umar Baziyani remain in detention and are being question by Iraqi and coalition forces." The government did not say when the arrests were made. U.S. forces said three weeks ago they had seized unidentified "transnational terrorists" in Baghdad. | Most likely that would be them. |
On Monday, an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden endorsed Zarqawi as al Qaeda's leader in Iraq and called for holy war against foreign troops and Iraqi forces attempting to secure Iraq's elections scheduled for Jan. 30. The government said this week another senior member of Zarqawi's network was captured in Mosul. | Ah, so this is a different guy. |
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