Can't seem to find this story in AP or Reuters headlines and thought some might be interested
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US captures Qaeda in Iraq's link to bin Laden by Jay Deshmukh
22 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) - US forces have arrested a top Iraqi militant who acted as a link between Al-Qaeda's Iraqi offshoot and the global jihadist network's Saudi founder Osama bin Laden, the US military said Wednesday.
Brigadier General Kevin Bergner said American troops had arrested Khaled al-Mashhadani, a senior Iraqi figure in a local group otherwise dominated by foreign-born extremists, on July 4 in the northern city of Mosul.
Under interrogation, he said, Mashhadani had revealed that propaganda tapes released by the Al-Qaeda in Iraq's supposed Iraqi kingpin, Omar al-Baghdadi, were in fact voiced by an actor under the command of an Egyptian militant.
"Mashhadani is believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the Al-Qaeda in Iraq network. He is a close associate of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq," Bergner said.
Bergner said Mashhadani was head of propaganda for Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a local franchise that has sworn fealty to bin Laden, and acted as an intermediary between Masri, bin Laden and Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri.
His arrest also struck a blow against an elaborate deception operation designed to portray Al-Qaeda's foreign-led insurgency as a rebellion by Iraqi resistance fighters against the US occupation of Iraq, Bergner said.
Mashhadani had overseen the creation of a fictitious front organisation dubbed the Islamic State of Iraq, said to be an umbrella body for Islamist militants headed by someone under the nom de guerre Omar al-Baghdad.
"To make al-Baghdadi appear credible, al-Masri swore allegiance to al-Baghdadi and pledged to obey him, which was essentially swearing allegiance to himself, since he knew Baghdadi was fictitious," Bergner said.
The al-Baghdadi character's voice appeared on several propaganda tapes, but was in fact played by an actor called Abu Abdullah al-Naima, he alleged.
"Al-Qaeda in Iraq is led by a foreign group under Abu Ayyub al-Masri's leadership with rank and file Iraqis" working in different cells.
Bergner's announcement will be seen as an attempt by US commanders to isolate Al-Qaeda, at a time when its Islamist insurgents are coming under pressure from former allies in Iraq's nationalist resistance.
Mashhadani's arrest will also be a blow to Al-Qaeda's attempt to link its various regional affiliates to the groups original leadership under the Saudi-born bin Laden, though to be on the run in Pakistan.
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US captures Qaeda in Iraq's link to bin Laden by Jay Deshmukh
22 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) - US forces have arrested a top Iraqi militant who acted as a link between Al-Qaeda's Iraqi offshoot and the global jihadist network's Saudi founder Osama bin Laden, the US military said Wednesday.
Brigadier General Kevin Bergner said American troops had arrested Khaled al-Mashhadani, a senior Iraqi figure in a local group otherwise dominated by foreign-born extremists, on July 4 in the northern city of Mosul.
Under interrogation, he said, Mashhadani had revealed that propaganda tapes released by the Al-Qaeda in Iraq's supposed Iraqi kingpin, Omar al-Baghdadi, were in fact voiced by an actor under the command of an Egyptian militant.
"Mashhadani is believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the Al-Qaeda in Iraq network. He is a close associate of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq," Bergner said.
Bergner said Mashhadani was head of propaganda for Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a local franchise that has sworn fealty to bin Laden, and acted as an intermediary between Masri, bin Laden and Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri.
His arrest also struck a blow against an elaborate deception operation designed to portray Al-Qaeda's foreign-led insurgency as a rebellion by Iraqi resistance fighters against the US occupation of Iraq, Bergner said.
Mashhadani had overseen the creation of a fictitious front organisation dubbed the Islamic State of Iraq, said to be an umbrella body for Islamist militants headed by someone under the nom de guerre Omar al-Baghdad.
"To make al-Baghdadi appear credible, al-Masri swore allegiance to al-Baghdadi and pledged to obey him, which was essentially swearing allegiance to himself, since he knew Baghdadi was fictitious," Bergner said.
The al-Baghdadi character's voice appeared on several propaganda tapes, but was in fact played by an actor called Abu Abdullah al-Naima, he alleged.
"Al-Qaeda in Iraq is led by a foreign group under Abu Ayyub al-Masri's leadership with rank and file Iraqis" working in different cells.
Bergner's announcement will be seen as an attempt by US commanders to isolate Al-Qaeda, at a time when its Islamist insurgents are coming under pressure from former allies in Iraq's nationalist resistance.
Mashhadani's arrest will also be a blow to Al-Qaeda's attempt to link its various regional affiliates to the groups original leadership under the Saudi-born bin Laden, though to be on the run in Pakistan.
