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| Iraq |
| Al-Qaeda's leaders Samarra and Baquba both neutralized |
| 2006-04-30 |
| Two key members of the Al Qaeda network were killed and captured in separate operations in Iraq over the past two days, US and Iraqi security sources reported Friday. Al Qaeda's regional leader in the city of Samaraa, Hammad Al Takhy, was killed on Friday morning, while on Thursday, Al Qaeda leader Abdel Qader Makhul was captured near Tikrit, the sources said. In the raid at Samaraa, 110 kilometres north of Baghdad, US military sources claimed the killing of al Takhy by coalition forces, while Iraqi security sources claimed the killing by Iraqi forces. The Iraqi sources added that al Takhy's whereabouts were revealed by individuals accusing the Al Qaeda leader of killing their family members and relatives. Reports said that after he was killed, people dragged al Takhy's corpse through the streets along the Al Rusasi River, a branch of the Tigris River. Al Takhy and his brother Nejm, who has not been apprehended, are accused of killing a number of Iraqi civilians in the region between Samaraa and Al Dawr, including a female reporter from the Al Arabiya satellite news channel, Atwar Bahjat. US armed forces had raided this region in March and had described its operation as the largest of its kind conducted in the Samaraa area. Al Qaeda's influence in the vicinity of Samaraa is said to have been dealt a serious blow by the killing of al Takhy. The operation in Samaraa came a day after the raid at a village 20 kilometres south of Tikrit, led to the capture of local Abdel Qader Makhul, Al Qaeda's chief of the Salah el Dein governorate on Thursday night by Iraqi forces. The operation came only three days after the killings of two Al Qaeda leaders - one chief and his deputy - who were said to be the regional leaders in the area of Al Jazeera. They were killed only two days after the release of Abu Musaab el Zarqawi's latest video recording. In a separate incident, Iraqi armed forces arrested the chief of an armed Islamist organization along with two other members of the group on Thursday, Iraqi security sources said. The three were apprehended near the city of Telafar. The leader, Khairy Abdel Hameed, and his two associates were arrested in the village of Hassan Kawi west of Mosul, 400 kilometers north of Baghdad. The group was said to have twelve explosive belts in their possession. The operations against the Al Qaeda came amid further clashes between coalition forces and insurgents, with US sources saying Friday that Iraqi security forces had killed 21 insurgents and captured another 43 in fighting in Baquba and Dali Abbas. The fighting took place on Thursday when insurgents attacked the Buhriz police station in Baquba and five checkpoints. Iraqi army and police forces responded to the attacks, killing 17 insurgents and capturing 28, the US sources said. One Iraqi soldier was killed and two others were wounded, in addition to four members of the Iraqi police force also reportedly wounded, according to the same sources. In another attack on Iraqi army headquarters in Dali Abbas, four insurgents were reported killed and 15 captured. Six Iraqi soldiers were killed and eight wounded in the incident, while two civilians were killed and four wounded. Iraqi security sources, however, had reported the deaths of five security forces and three civilians in the Dali Abbas incident. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 Good catch, Ptah! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-30 14:57 |
| #3 Excellent news about mistreatement of the corpse: They're not only sending a message to AQ about how they feel about them, but communication that the locals are not afraid of reprisals. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2006-04-30 14:08 |
| #2 Sort of like the Mussolini treatment? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-04-30 09:05 |
| #1 "...people dragged al Takhy's corpse through the streets..." This must be some general Muslim cultural thing. I'm not defending al Takyy or anything, but just questioning the whole 'multi-culturalism/diversity wonderful' mindset. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-04-30 08:17 |