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13 May 2008 13:09 BST

Al-Qaida leader in Iraq reportedly arrested

Friday, 09 May 2008 09:17

Abu Ayyub al-Masri has reportedly been arrested

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The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi government has said.

The Associated Press news agency quotes the interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf as saying that Mosul police "arrested one of al-Qaida's leaders at midnight".

He went on to say that "during the primary investigations he admitted that he is Abu Ayyub al-Masri".

Arab satellite television stations also covered news of his arrest last night.

The US military though claimed that they were "checking with Iraqi authorities to confirm the accuracy of this information".

Al-Masri took over as head of al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in June 2006 during a US airstrike in Baquba.

The Associated Press claim al-Masri joined Islamic Jihad in 1982 and fought with Muslim rebels against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s and later ran al-Qaida training camps there. End of story

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Al-Qaida leader in Iraq reportedly arrested

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