Thursday, May 03, 2007
Interior minister claims insurgent leader has been killed
Insurgency
(AFP) - US and Iraqi forces have killed the most senior insurgent leader in Iraq, Deputy Interior Minister Hussein Ali Kamal said on Thursday, in a major victory for the allies' security plan. Kamal said the militant chieftain known as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, was killed on Wednesday in an armed clash in northwestern Baghdad.
"His body is under the control of the interior ministry," the junior minister told AFP. "His body has been identified." The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella group of Sunni insurgents dominated by Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
It has been blamed for attacks on Shiite civilians and has claimed responsibility for some of the bloodiest assaults on Iraqi security forces.
Separately, US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver said the military would hold a news conference later on Thursday to announce a "recent success against a senior leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq." According to an Iraqi security official in the northern city of Tikrit, Baghdadi's mourning family had already begun receiving well-wishers in his hometown of Dhuluiyah, around 75 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Baghdadi is a 37-year-old law graduate whose real name was Mohib and was well known in the region, itself known for its Al-Qaeda sympathies. Kamal said Baghdadi was killed in a clash in the Ghazaliyah neighbourhood of northwestern Baghdad, a flashpoint on one of the city's many sectarian fault lines and a focus of recent security operations.
His death would be the first major success of a 10-week-old joint US-Iraqi security operation, which has seen tens of thousands of extra troops and police flood the war-torn capital in a bid to quell sectarian bloodshed.
"His body is under the control of the interior ministry," the junior minister told AFP. "His body has been identified." The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella group of Sunni insurgents dominated by Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
It has been blamed for attacks on Shiite civilians and has claimed responsibility for some of the bloodiest assaults on Iraqi security forces.
Separately, US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver said the military would hold a news conference later on Thursday to announce a "recent success against a senior leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq." According to an Iraqi security official in the northern city of Tikrit, Baghdadi's mourning family had already begun receiving well-wishers in his hometown of Dhuluiyah, around 75 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Baghdadi is a 37-year-old law graduate whose real name was Mohib and was well known in the region, itself known for its Al-Qaeda sympathies. Kamal said Baghdadi was killed in a clash in the Ghazaliyah neighbourhood of northwestern Baghdad, a flashpoint on one of the city's many sectarian fault lines and a focus of recent security operations.
His death would be the first major success of a 10-week-old joint US-Iraqi security operation, which has seen tens of thousands of extra troops and police flood the war-torn capital in a bid to quell sectarian bloodshed.
Labels: Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, Dhuluiyah, Ghazaliyah, Hussein Ali Kamal, Islamic State of Iraq, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver, Mohib
