Iraq says al-Qaeda boss captured as dozens killed

The Iraqi military announced the capture yesterday of the man said to be the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, as at least 73 people were killed in bombings on the deadliest day in Iraq in 14 months.

"Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was arrested today in Baghdad," the capital's security spokesman Major General Qassim Atta said. "It was Iraqi forces who arrested him based on an intelligence tipoff from someone."

Major General Atta added that Mr Baghdadi - who has been reported captured or killed several times in the past - will be shown on television after being questioned, without specifying when.

Mr Baghdadi is said to be the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, a self-styled umbrella organisation for al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgent groups fighting US and Iraqi forces that has pledged loyalty to Osama bin Laden. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that Mr Baghdadi's real name is Ahmed Abed Ahmed and that he is a 40-year-old former officer in the Iraqi army, adding that the man arrested yesterday was still being investigated.

"According to our intelligence he is Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, but we have to check very carefully because there have been a lot of Abu Omar al-Baghdadis," Mr Dabbagh said.

He said an earlier report by Iraqi state-owned TV identifying Mr Baghdadi by another name was "not correct."

US Defence Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said that while the Pentagon had not yet confirmed whether Mr Baghdadi had been captured, his arrest would be significant.

"We think this is a significant al-Qaeda leader and if the report is true that would be very good news," he said. "Mr Baghdadi has been believed to be a key leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq for some time."

The US military in the past had accused Mr Baghdadi of being a ruse designed to put an Iraqi face on a group that has always been led by foreign fighters.

In July 2007 a US military spokesman said Baghdadi was a fictional character and that the voice on audiotapes released in his name was that of an actor.

The US military has always said that the real leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq is Abu Hamza al-Muhajir - better known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri - a veteran Egyptian militant named al-Qaeda chief in June 2006 following the death of his better-known Jordanian predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a US air raid.