The leader of an Iraqi insurgent group believed responsible for the kidnapping of an Italian journalist and the murder of another has been captured, Iraq TV reported on Thursday.
Muhammwed al-Qbeidi, also known as Abu Ayamn, was arrested last March 7 in the southern Mahmudiya district of the Iraqi capital but his capture was kept secret, also to allow time for a DNA test to confirm his identity, Al-Hurra TV said citing US military sources.
These same sources added that the captured took place during a joint manhunt carried out by American and Iraqi intelligence units.
Al-Obeidi was deputy chief of staff of Iraqi intelligence under former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein. After the regime collapsed he became the leader of the so-called Islamic Army in the northern Iraqi province of Babil and struck an alliance with the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Military sources believe the Islamic Army is made up primarily of former Iraqi secret service agents and members of the Iraqi military still loyal to Saddam. Al-Obeidi is believed to have been responsible for the August 2004 kidnapping and murder of free lance Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni.
He is also suspected of carrying out the kidnappings last year of French journalist Florence Aubenas and Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena.
According to Iraq TV, al-Obeidi's arrest was made possible thanks to information provided by one of his lieutenants, Syrian Abu Qatada, who was himself captured last December 27.
Abu Qatar is believed to be responsible for the murder of two members of the provisional Iraqi governing council set up after Saddam's downfall. Baldoni, 56, was on his first trip to Iraq when he was kidnapped August 20, 2004 and then executed the 26th. His remains were not turned over to Italian authorities until a year later.
Sgrena, a journalist for the left-wing Italian daily Il Manifesto, was taken hostage on February 2, 2005. She was released a month later thanks to the mediation of Italian secret service official Nicola Calipari. Calipari was then killed trying to protect Sgrena when America troops opened fire on the car he was using to bring the reporter to Baghdad airport after her release.
Aubenas was kidnapped on January 1, 2005 and held hostage until June 12.
