The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq. “Insurgent leader nabbed in Iraq raid,” by Lauren Frayer for Associated Press, with thanks to Hal:
BAGHDAD – The leader of the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq was captured Friday in a raid west of Baghdad “” his identity revealed by a fellow insurgent detained with him, an Iraqi military spokesman said.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was captured in a raid in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman of the Baghdad security operation. U.S. officials had no confirmation of the capture.
“One of the terrorists who was arrested with him confessed that the one in our hands is al-Baghdadi,” al-Moussawi said.
Al-Baghdadi has been identified in statements posted on Islamic extremist Web sites as the head of the Islamic State, which was proclaimed last year after the death of the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
In a tape released last November, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq called on Sunni Muslims to pledge their allegiance to a new state that militants have said they created in Iraq, and said al-Baghdadi was “the ruler of believers” with al-Qaida in Iraq fighters under his command.
The “Ruler of the Believers,” or “Commander of the Faithful,” amir al-mumineen, is a title of the caliph.