al Qaeda taken prisoner

Daily News & Analysis:

29 Al-Qaeda members captured in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Iraqi and US forces have captured 29 members of Al-Qaeda, including a death squad leader, in a series of operations across Iraq, an official said on Monday.

Twenty-two Al-Qaeda members, including two brothers of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, were captured Monday at Baiji, 220 kilometres north of Baghdad, said interior ministry operations director Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf.

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The US military, meanwhile, said its troops had rescued two people kidnapped and tortured apparently by Al-Qaeda operatives in a town near Fallujah, 50 kilometres west of Baghdad.

"Soldiers freed the two bound and gagged civilians held in a complex (in Karmah). One victim, later identified as an Iraqi policeman, had been shot while the other had been hanged and beaten."

Both victims were alive and were airlifted to a nearby military camp for treatment, the statement said.

"The terrorists, identified as Al-Qaeda in Iraq by one of the victims, were filming the torture sessions and apparently left the two hostages alone to get more videotape."