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US claims top Al Qaida man killed in Iraq

US forces said they had killed the top Al Qaida leader whom they blamed for a pivotal 2006 attack on a Shiite shrine in Samarra.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 15:33 August 5, 2007
  • Gulf News

  • Mourners carry a coffin containing their relative, one of eleven killed and 15 wounded in a mortar attack in eastern Baghdad, on Sunday.
  • Image Credit: AP

Baghdad: US forces said they had killed the top Al Qaida leader in Salahuddin province, Haitham Al Badri, whom they blamed for a 2006 attack on a Shiite shrine in Samarra that was a turning point in the country's sectarian conflict.

They also said a week-long Iraqi police crackdown on Al Qaida in Samarra had netted 80 suspects.

Among the other Al Qaida figures reported captured over the past few days were the group's local leaders for the Salahuddin cities of Samarra and Tikrit, home town of ousted leader Saddam Hussein. The US military said last week it had killed the Al Qaida leader in Mosul in the province further north.

US and Iraqi officials frequently say they have killed or captured leading Al Qaida figures, and the precise role that any particular individual may have played in the shadowy militant group is often difficult to assess.

But the announcements indicate a push against Al Qaida guerrillas in the large stretch of towns and cities that runs along the fertile Tigris River valley north of Baghdad.

US forces identified the slain Al Qaida provincial chief Badri as the mastermind behind two attacks on the Al Askari mosque, a Shiite shrine in Samarra.

Separately, an Iraqi military officer said troops had captured Al Qaida's leader for the city of Tikrit, named Talal Al Baazi. US forces said the group's leader for Samarra, whom they did not name, was also caught.

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