Iraq security forces capture al-Qaida leader

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iraq security forces have captured a provincial leader of al-Qaida in Iraq in an operation north of Baghdad Tuesday that also left two of his followers dead, the government spokesman said. Dozens were captured in the operation, he said. Ali al-Dabbagh told state-run Iraqiya television the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq in the province of Salahuddin was captured with his deputy in an operation in the town of Beiji, 250 kilometers north of Baghdad. Al-Dabbagh refused to give the name of the man adding that 59 others, including a Libyan citizen, were captured in the operation. In June, al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a US airstrike on his hideout in the eastern Diyala province.