Scene of terror attack in Baghdad
Photo: Reuters
Report: Iraqi insurgent leader captured
Commander of al-Qaeda-linked group apprehended, Iraqi state television says
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group, has been captured, Iraqi state television said on Thursday.
The insurgent group is one of a handful of Sunni Arab extremist groups blamed for suicide bombings and other attacks in the northern city of Mosul and other parts of Iraq.
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Violence has dropped sharply since the height of sectarian killings in 2006-07, but attacks continue. The report came on the same day that two separate suicide bombings killed 68 people in Baghdad and in a town northeast of the Iraqi capital.
Al-Iraqiya television said Baghdadi was believed to have been captured in eastern Baghdad. Security experts have previously speculated that Baghdadi was a character invented by some extremist groups rather than a real person.
US Major-General David Perkins, spokesman for US forces in Iraq, told Reuters Television in Washington the US military had not yet been able to confirm the capture of the insurgent leader, whose detention has been reported before.
Iraqi forces are taking greater responsibility for security in Iraq as US troops, who now number close to 140,000 in Iraq, prepare to withdraw fully by the end of 2011.
The news of Baghdadi's capture came on a bloody day in Iraq, after two suicide bombers wearing vests stuffed with explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks Thursday, killing almost 70 people. Many of those killed were Iranian pilgrims, police said.
