Special reports: Al-Qaida's chief Zarqawi
killed
Tension accelerates
in Iraq
BEIJING,
Sept. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- An al-Qaida-affiliated group dismissed the
Iraqi government's claim that the group's second most important leader had been
arrested, suggesting the man arrested was not a senior figure and denying that
the group had suffered a significant blow, according to media
reports Tuesday.
In a statement Monday, the Mujahedeen Shura Council,
an umbrella organization of Sunni extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in
Iraq, said its "leadership is in the best condition."
The statement did not directly deny the arrest, nor
said what position Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi held, although it
suggested he was not the group's No. 2 leader.
Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, also known as Abu Humam
or Abu Rana, was captured by Iraq's police on Sunday.
On Sunday, Iraqi government security
adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie described al-Saeedi as "the second most
important al-Qaida figure in Iraq, just next to Abu Ayyub al-Masri."
The security adviser said: "I can confirm that
al-Qaida in Iraq is severely hurt."
Al-Saeedi is also believed to be involved in the
Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, he added.
The attack inflamed tensions between Shiite and Sunni
Muslims and set off reprisal killings that have killed hundreds of Iraqis.
Enditem
(Agencies)
Al Qaeda's No. 2 in Iraq
Captured
BAGHDAD, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi security
force has captured the second most senior leader in the al-Qaida Organization in
Iraq, National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said on Sunday. >>>
Bush denies there's civil war in
Iraq
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President
George W. Bush denied on Saturday there was a civil in Iraq, despite a Pentagon
report admitted a day earlier that sectarian violence was spreading in the
war-torn country and that the overall attacks and daily Iraqi civilian
casualties had increased significantly. >>>
Pentagon says violence in Iraq
increasing
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The overall
attacks in Iraq rose 24 percent to 792 each week and the daily Iraqi civilian
casualties increased by 51 percent to nearly 120 over the past three months, the
U.S. Defense Department said Friday. >>>
Death toll in Baghdad bombings rises
to 43
BAGHDAD, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in
a series of bombings, including one at a popular market, in eastern Baghdad on
Thursday rose to 43, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua. A total of 160
people were wounded in the attacks. >>>
