Richard Tafoya
May 8th, 2008, 07:09 PM
CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/08/iraq.alqaeda/
The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was captured early Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi officials said.
U.S. military officials were surprised about the report of Abu Ayyub al-Masri's capture -- first reported by Iraqi media and picked up by The Associated Press -- and intelligence officials said they were skeptical, even though Iraqi officials said he was already in U.S. military custody.
Al-Masri ("the Egyptian"), also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, took the reins of the Iraqi al Qaeda offshoot in June 2006 after a U.S. missile strike killed his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Since then, Iraqi officials have reported his death three times, his capture twice and a mortal wounding once.
This time, Nineveh Gov. Duraid Kashmoula and Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed al-Askari told CNN of al-Masri's capture during a late-night operation in Mosul, saying he had since been handed over to the U.S. military.
Kashmoula said police, acting on reliable sources, surrounded and stormed a house in Mosul's southern Wadi Hajer neighborhood, finding a man who readily identified himself as al-Masri sleeping on a thin mattress on the ground.
Iraqi security forces are 100 percent certain of the identification, he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/08/iraq.alqaeda/
The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was captured early Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi officials said.
U.S. military officials were surprised about the report of Abu Ayyub al-Masri's capture -- first reported by Iraqi media and picked up by The Associated Press -- and intelligence officials said they were skeptical, even though Iraqi officials said he was already in U.S. military custody.
Al-Masri ("the Egyptian"), also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, took the reins of the Iraqi al Qaeda offshoot in June 2006 after a U.S. missile strike killed his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Since then, Iraqi officials have reported his death three times, his capture twice and a mortal wounding once.
This time, Nineveh Gov. Duraid Kashmoula and Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed al-Askari told CNN of al-Masri's capture during a late-night operation in Mosul, saying he had since been handed over to the U.S. military.
Kashmoula said police, acting on reliable sources, surrounded and stormed a house in Mosul's southern Wadi Hajer neighborhood, finding a man who readily identified himself as al-Masri sleeping on a thin mattress on the ground.
Iraqi security forces are 100 percent certain of the identification, he said.