Baghdad, March 27 (NNN-KUNA) Spokesman of Baghdad Law Enforcement Plan General Qassem Atta confirmed Monday the arrest of an al-Qaeda leader and two of his aides in western Baghdad.
"A force from the Third Brigade raided Abu Ghraib area and arrested Ahmad Farhan and two of his close associates Tuesday," Baghdad security plan spokesman Qassem Atta told a press conference in the city.
"Farhan, a leader of the terrorist organization in Iraq, admitted his direct responsibility for killing up to 300 persons and abducting some 200 others and confessed also of having close ties with a wanted man named Abu Omar al-Baghdadi," the senior officer pointed out.
During the operation in Abu-Gharib area, the Iraqi security authorities managed also to free 17 hostages and arrested four abductors in Al-Salamiyat district, west Baghdad.
Atta played video footage showing the arrest of Farhan and the seizure of large arms caches belonging to 71 militants. The militants used military uniforms to launch attacks and ethnic cleansing operations, he added.
He reviewed the achievement of the plan from March 21 to 26, pointing out that 30 terrorists and 227 suspects arrested, 25 hostages freed and large amounts of weapons were seized.
Meanwhile, one hour after the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified international Green Zone in central Baghdad was shaken by loud explosions of mortar shells, a suicide attacker detonated his car near Maarouf Al-Resafi square here.
The suicide attack killed two Iraqi civilians and wounded seven others Monday afternoon. It also caused heavy material damage to nearby shops and cars, said Iraqi police sources.
Information coordinator of the Multi-National Forces Janah Hammod told KUNA the attack on the embassy injured one U.S. national and two embassy workers of other nationalities.