Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Al-Qaeda denies deputy was arrested
Insurgency
In a statement on Monday, the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organisation of Sunni extremist groups that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq, denied that the group's second-in-command had been arrested and added that their leadership is strong. However, they did not deny that the man the Iraqi government claimed was Al-Qaeda in Iraq's deputy, Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi had been arrested, nor did they say what position he held. Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was captured by Iraq's police on Sunday. Following his capture on Sunday, Iraqi government security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie described al-Saeedi as "the second most important al-Qaeda figure in Iraq, just next to Abu Ayyub al-Masri," and added that al-Qaeda in Iraq's leadership had been dealt a severe blow.
