Iraqi and U.S. forces have captured or arrested about 30 suspected al-Qaeda members in the past week, including a suspect in this month's killing of an Egyptian envoy and attacks on senior diplomats from Bahrain and Pakistan. Khamis Abdul-Fahdawi, also known as Abu Seba, was captured Saturday after operations in the Ramadi area west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. Abdul-Fahdawi is a suspect in the "attacks against diplomats of Bahrain, Pakistan and the recent murder of Egyptian envoy" Ihab al-Sherif, the U.S. statement said.Another top suspect, Abdullah Ibrahim al-Shadad, or Abu Abdul Aziz, was arrested during a raid Sunday in Baghdad, the statement said. It identified him as the operations officer for al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Shadad was cooperating with coalition forces, according to U.S. Central Command. On Thursday, an Internet statement attributed to the terrorist group al-Qaeda in Iraq acknowledged al-Shadad had been caught, but it played down his importance.
The statement also said al-Qaeda in Iraq denied any role in a suicide car bombing Wednesday that killed 27 people — including 18 children and teenagers and an American soldier — in Baghdad. The car bomber detonated his sport-utility vehicle as U.S. troops were swarmed by children in the mostly Shiite New Baghdad area. "Our sheik, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ... is very keen not to attack the rank and file, and he himself is the one who directly supervises, plans and direct all the operations," said the statement, which was purportedly signed by Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, spokesman for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The statement's authenticity could not be verified.
"Such action has nothing to do with religion," Inaam Hassan, 38, said of the attack. "This tarnishes the image of the true resistance. I demand that the terrorists be executed in public to avenge the mothers who have lost their children." Salam al-Rubaiei, 33, blamed parents of the children for allowing them to approach American soldiers. "We know how reckless these forces are and how they can randomly open fire when attacked," al-Rubaiei said. "I want to know why these forces were present in a residential area."