DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: 29 MEMBERS OF AL-QAEDA CAPTURED IN IRAQ

Al-Qaeda members apprehended in Baghdad blitz

Baghdad - Iraqi and American forces have captured 29 members of al-Qaeda, including a death squad leader, in a series of operations across Iraq, an official said on Monday.

Twenty-two al-Qaeda members, including two brothers of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, were captured on Monday at Baiji, 220km north of Baghdad, said interior ministry operations director Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf.

"The operation was carried out by police based on intelligence gathered by the ministry of the interior," Khalaf told reporters.

The Islamic State of Iraq is an alliance of Sunni groups under the umbrella of al-Qaeda in Iraq, which said it had kidnapped and executed 14 Iraqi policemen last Friday at Baquba, 60km north of Baghdad, to avenge the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by Shi'a police.

"We have also arrested the most dangerous man in northern Iraq, Fuad Ahmed al-Mufraji, who is responsible for a number of assassinations," said Khalaf, adding he was captured near Tikrit, 180km north of the capital, also on Monday.

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