Sunday Sign of Hope 9/3/06

Al Qaeda's No. 2 in Iraq Captured

from LA Times:

A high-level operative of Al Qaeda in Iraq believed to be one of the planners behind the bombing of one of the world's holiest Shiite Muslim shrines has been captured, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Sunday.

Hamed Jumaa Farid Saeedi, a former intelligence agent under Saddam Hussein's regime who is believed to be in his early 40s, was the No. 2 Al Qaeda in Iraq operative, according to Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak Rubaie.

An Iraqi intelligence unit working with U.S. special forces captured Saeedi near Baqubah, northeast of the capital, not far from where Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed three months ago, authorities said. They did not reveal when Saeedi was arrested but said the capture also led to the arrest of 20 Al Qaeda in Iraq members, including 11 considered high- to mid-level operatives.

Saeedi allegedly helped mastermind the February bombing of the Askari mosque in Samarra, a pilgrimage site that holds the remains of two of Shiite Islam's holiest martyrs. The attack is widely credited with intensifying sectarian violence plaguing Iraq.