Middle East News

Two dead in Iraq violence, two al-Qaeda leaders arrested (Roundup)

May 4, 2010, 14:54 GMT

Baghdad - Two civilians were killed and 14 injured in separate attacks in Iraq, while police have arrested two al-Qaeda leaders and another group of militants, security officials said Tuesday.

The officials said gunmen shot and killed a pharmacist working at al-Salam hospital in the northern city of Mosul. Earlier, 12 people were injured in a car bomb blast in the city centre.

Meanwhile police detained alleged Saudi al-Qaeda leader Mohamed Mahmoud Salama in a raid in western Mosul, a security source told the German Press Agency dpa.

The two sides exchanged fire during the raid, leaving two policemen injured.

Salama is believed to have entered Iraq in 2004. He was arrested by security forces in 2006 but managed to escape.

Four members of the 1920 Revolution Brigade, a militant Iraqi group formed after the US occupation of the country in 2003, were arrested when security forces raided their underground hideout just outside the city of Kirkuk on Tuesday.

The 1920 Revolution Brigade has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Iraq, including the bombing of the al-Arabiya television network headquarters in Baghdad in 2005 and the kidnapping of US marine Wassef Ali Hassoun in 2004.

Security sources said weapons and explosive devices were also found in the hideout.

Security forces also announced that the imam of a Sunni mosque in Mosul was shot and killed by unknown gunmen after evening prayers on Monday night.

On Monday, an Iraqi security operation targeting the hideouts of al-Qaeda militants in the city of Baquba led to the arrest of 25 al- Qaeda members, including a prominent leader.

'Among those arrested is the emir of Baquba, known as Haji Basem, who is involved in the deaths of 24 people and the displacement of 50 families in the area during the years of escalated sectarian violence, between 2005 and 2007,' a security source said on Tuesday.