Top Al Qaeda Operative Captured
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon said Friday it has custody of one of Al Qaeda’s most senior and most experienced operatives, an Iraqi who was attempting to return to his native country when he was captured.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the captive is Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi. He was received by the Pentagon from the CIA, Mr. Whitman said, but the spokesman would not say where or when al-Iraqi was captured or by whom.
The Pentagon took custody of him at Guantanamo Bay this week, Mr. Whitman said.
Mr. Whitman said the terror suspect was believed responsible for plotting cross-border attacks from Pakistan on American forces in Afghanistan, and that he led an effort to assassinate Pakistan’s president, General Pervez Musharraf.
“Abd al-Hadi (al-Iraqi) was trying to return to his native country, Iraq, to manage Al Qaeda’s affairs and possibly focus on operations outside Iraq against Western targets,” Mr. Whitman said, adding that the terror suspect met with Al Qaeda members in Iran. He said he did not know what time period al-Iraqi was in Iran.
The Pentagon said Mr. al-Iraqi was born in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq, in 1961. Mr. Whitman said he was a key Al Qaeda paramilitary leader in Afghanistan in the late 1990s and during 2002-04 led efforts to attack American forces in Afghanistan with terrorist forces based in Pakistan.
