Al-Qaida leader captured in Iraqi operation

Iraq security forces have today captured a provincial leader of al-Qaida in Iraq during an operation north of Baghdad, which also left two of his followers dead.

Dozens were captured in the operation.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said 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, 155 miles 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.