Baghdad, January 16: The Iraqi army said on Saturday that it had detained a suspected al-Qaeda leader implicated in the 2003 bombing of the UN’s Baghdad headquarters in which 22 people were killed.
Ali Hussein Alwan al-Azawi, nicknamed Abu Imad, suspected of being a top commander in al-Qaeda front organisation the Islamic State in Iraq, was captured in an operation in the capital, Baghdad military command spokesperson Qassem Atta told a news conference.
“He is responsible for the explosion at the UN headquarters in Baghdad,” Atta charged.
Before the US-led invasion of 2003, the suspect was a pilot for state-owned flag carrier Iraqi Airways, he added.
The August 19 2003 bombing which killed UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 of his colleagues marked the start of an escalating wave of attacks blamed on al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups.
The army spokesperson said troops had also detained a Saudi national, Mohammed Abdallah Nasser, who was suspected of being an important al-Qaeda commander in Diyala province, north of the capital.
West of Baghdad, troops detained 11 suspected members of another Islamic militant group, Ansar al-Sunna, in the Euphrates valley town of Hit, a security source said.
They are suspected of being behind a series of four bombings targeting the homes of policemen in the town which killed a total of seven people.
—Agencies