The al Qaida breakaway group that has seized much of Syria and Iraq has formally declared the establishment of a new Islamic state.

Iraqi officials said today they were holding a top al-Qaida official, but not the terror mastermind Abu Omar al-Baghdadi who they believed was captured a day earlier.

The leader of the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, has been captured, an Iraqi military spokesman said today.