BAGHDAD — The Iraqi army arrested the alleged military leader of al Qaeda’s offshoot in Iraq and three of his acolytes in a pre-dawn raid Wednesday, the country’s defense ministry said.
The accused insurgent — named Mikhlif Mohammed Hussein al Azzawi, though he is also known as Abu Radwan — was detained along with three other suspected leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq, spokesman Major General Mohammed al Askari told AFP.
“These are four major leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq, and they are four of the most dangerous, most wanted figures in al Qaeda,” Askari said.
Askari said the operation to detain the group was carried out by the Iraqi army at around 1:30am local time, west of Samarra, which is 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
The others arrested were Mohammed Saad Muzzaham al Daraji, the suspected head of the al Qaeda branch’s assassinations unit, Fawzi Abbas Ali al Badri, who is also known as Abu Abdulrahman and who Askari said was primarily charged with kidnapping soldiers with a view to killing them and burning their bodies.
Soldiers also detained Qassim Mohammed Taha, who was wanted in connection with a brazen March 29 attack in the city of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, in which 58 people were killed.
Askari added that 18 other insurgents were arrested in a separate raid in northern Nineveh province, near Iraq’s border with Syria, but did not specify who exactly was detained.
The arrests follow an announcement Tuesday by Iraq’s interior ministry that “negligence and collaboration” contributed to the May 7 mutiny at a Baghdad prison in which six policemen, including a brigadier general, and 11 inmates were killed.
“The incident was planned,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The negligence and collaboration of some infiltrators helped provide the tools of the crime by bringing materials to the detainees.”
Violence is down across Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. In April, 211 people were killed as a result of attacks, according to official figures.
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