The US military Thursday announced the capture of a key suspect in the kidnap-slaying of Egyptian envoy Ihab Al Sherif and attacks on senior diplomats from Pakistan and Bahrain.| That was pretty quick... |
Another Al Qaeda lieutenant, Abdullah Ibrahim Mohammed Hassan al Shadad, or Abu Abdul Aziz, was captured Sunday, the command said. It said Abu Abdul Aziz was a top lieutenant of Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi and served as operations officer for the group. The statement said Abu Abdul Aziz was cooperating with coalition forces.
In an Internet statement Thursday, Al Qaeda acknowledged that Abu Abdul Aziz had been captured but described him as the commander of one of the groupâs Baghdad brigades. âThey invent the posts: here is the prince of Baghdad, the deputy of Al Zarqawi, or one of the top leaders,â the group said. âGod knows that our brother Abu Abdul Aziz, God free him from capture, is nothing but a leader of one of the brigades in Baghdad.â The group said he was detained when American and Iraqi forces stormed a house in Baghdad and that Abu Abdul Aziz was wounded and possibly killed.