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Top al-Zarqawi aide captured

Logistical planner's arrest is sign Iraqi and U.S. forces are getting closer to insurgency leader, officials say

BY MOHAMAD BAZZI | MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT

February 26, 2005

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Iraqi forces have arrested a top lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, another indication that they are close to capturing Iraq's most wanted man, security officials said Friday.

The aide, Taleb Mikhlef al-Dulaimi, was "responsible for determining who, when and how terrorist leaders would meet with al-Zarqawi," the Iraqi government said in a statement. Al-Dulaimi was captured in a Feb. 20 raid in the town of Anah, about 150 miles west of Baghdad.

"He was al-Zarqawi's logistical planner. He secured transportation, safe houses and money," an Iraqi security official said in a phone interview. "This is going to hurt al-Zarqawi."

Iraqi and U.S. forces have come close to capturing al-Zarqawi at least twice since mid-January, Kurdish intelligence officials have told Newsday. Even though al-Zarqawi escaped shortly before the raids on his hideouts, Iraqi officials were pleased by the accuracy of the intelligence.

In the Feb. 20 raid, Iraqi forces also captured Ahmad Khalid al-Rawi, who arranged meetings for al-Zarqawi and occasionally worked as his driver. Aside from the latest arrests, Iraqi and U.S. forces have carried out a series of operations this month in Baghdad, Mosul and other areas that led to the killing or capture of at least eight al-Zarqawi operatives.

These arrests followed the capture of one of al-Zarqawi's top lieutenants, Abu Omar al-Kurdi, in a Jan. 15 raid in Baghdad. Al-Kurdi has provided information about his boss' movements, hiding places and communication methods, according to Kurdish officials.

The level of detail being provided to interrogators by captured al-Zarqawi operatives suggests that Iraqi forces are closing in on him and unraveling his security procedures. Al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility - or has been blamed by U.S. and Iraqi officials - for a majority of the bloodiest suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners in Iraq in the past year. U.S. officials say he is masterminding a terror network in Iraq at the behest of Osama bin Laden, but al-Zarqawi also has shown a tendency to operate independently.

In July, U.S. officials raised the reward for information leading to al-Zarqawi's arrest or killing to $25 million - equal to the bounty on bin Laden's head. The Bush administration has consistently labeled al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, as the main force behind the Iraqi insurgency. To some Iraqis, the U.S. focus on al-Zarqawi is part of a political strategy to portray the insurgency as driven by Islamic militants and foreigners.

Al-Dulaimi, the logistical planner, was captured in Anbar province, an area where the insurgency has been entrenched for more than a year. Anbar, a vast region that borders Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, includes the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.

Iraqi officials have long suspected that al-Zarqawi is hiding in Anbar or around the northern city of Mosul. Both areas have strong networks of Sunni Muslim militants and former loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime. Al-Zarqawi, a Sunni, has targeted members of Iraq's Shia majority in hopes of heightening sectarian tensions.

Al-Dulaimi comes from Anbar's most powerful Sunni tribe, the Dulaim, whose members have played a key role in the insurgency. Without support from local tribes, foreign militants such as al-Zarqawi would find it difficult to operate in Iraq.

"The foreign terrorists need people like al-Dulaimi to carry out their work," said the security official. "Otherwise, al-Zarqawi would be easy to isolate."