Iraqi al-Qaeda chief 'caught' as 70 die in suicide bombings

Iraqi forces claim to have arrested one of the most wanted al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq, as his suicide bombers killed more than 75 people in attacks in and around Baghdad.

By Our Foreign Staff and Agencies in Baghdad
Last Updated: 1:30AM BST 24 Apr 2009

Al-Arabiya news channel shows, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the supposed leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq now said to be in Baghdad's custody. Photo: AFP
Shortly after the bombings, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, a leader of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, was arrested, said Major General Qasim Atta, Baghdad’s security spokesman said.
The arrest could be a significant blow to Sunni insurgents struggling to regroup after being driven out of their former strongholds during the US-led "surge" policy.

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The Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella group of militant Sunni factions which is said to be dominated by Baghdadi's al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is affiliated to "core" al-Qaeda in Pakistan.
His arrest, which could not be confirmed, and even his death have been reported before. Security experts have speculated in the past that Baghdadi was a character invented by some extremist groups rather than a real person.
But his footsoldiers proved they, at least, are real when a bomber struck in central Baghdad, killing at least 31 people including several children as police distributed relief supplies to families driven from their homes during the height of the sectarian violence.
Another 50 people were injured in the attack near Tahariyat Square in the Karradah district, which left Red Crescent food parcels and shattered packets of chocolate biscuits strewn across pools of blood.
Maj-Gen Qassim Moussawi, a Baghdad security spokesman, said the attack carried "the fingerprints of al-Qaeda".
Soon afterwards as many as 47 people - almost all of them Shia prilgrims from Iran - were killed in the volatile Diyala province. A bomber targeted a crowded roadside restaurant at lunchtime near Muqdadiya, 50 miles north-east of the capital. A further 68 people were wounded in the blast.
Violence across Iraq has fallen sharply over the past year, but Sunni insurgent goups such as al-Qa-eda in Iraq still carry out regular attacks.
The bombings underlined growing apprehension ahead of the planned withdrawal of US troops from city centres in June. A national election due at the end of the year could also trigger a resurgence in violence.
Meanwhile, Iran's official news agency reported that Tehran had reached an agreement with Iraq to build a pipeline that will feed Iraqi crude to an Iranian refinery.
If confirmed, the agreement would mark another step in strengthening relations between the two majority Shia countries that fought a deadly eight-year war in the 1980s. link...