Two al-Qaeda leaders captured in Iraq

Published on Sunday 24 August 2008 23:57

TWO prominent al-Qaeda leaders with links to the kidnapping of the British-Iraqi aid worker Margaret Hassan have been caught by US forces in Iraq.

The men – Ali Rash Nasir Jiyad al-Shammari, known as Abu Tiba, and Salim Abdallah Ashur al-Shujayri, known as Abu Uthman – were detained earlier this month.

Abu Tiba was the Sunni militant group's senior adviser in the Iraqi capital, while Abu Uthman was the "emir", or leader, for the capital's eastern Rusafa district.

Abu Tiba was in charge of al-Qaeda in Iraq during its most active period in early 2007.

Abu Uthman was believed to be the planner behind the kidnapping of US journalist Jill Carroll, a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, who was held for nearly three months after being abducted in 2006. His associates were also involved in the kidnapping of Mrs Hassan, who was later killed by her captors, and of a group of Christian peace activists.

The British-Iraqi aid worker was kidnapped in Baghdad on 19 October, 2004, and killed four weeks later.

In a video of her released while she was in captivity, Mrs Hassan pleaded for the withdrawal of British troops.

She said "these might be (her] last hours". She pleaded: "Please help me. The British people, tell Mr Blair to take the troops out of Iraq and not bring them here to Baghdad."

She also said she did not "want to die like Bigley", a reference to British hostage Kenneth Bigley who had been beheaded weeks earlier.

A US military spokesman said: "The capture of Abu Tiba and Abu Uthman eliminates two of the few remaining experienced leaders in the AQI (al-Qaeda in Iraq] network."