Iraqi police on Wednesday arrested a senior militant and close aide of Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief Abu Ayyub al-Masri in western Iraq's Anbar province, the provincial police chief said. Major General Tareq al-Youssef said Nazal Sabar al-Jughaify, also known as Abu al-Jarrah, was arrested in the town of Haditha after police ambushed him following a tipoff from local citizens.
"Abu Jarrah is one of the main financiers of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and also a senior lieutenant of Abu Ayyub al-Masri," Youssef told AFP in the provincial capital of Ramadi.
Youssef said Jughaify, an Iraqi, had returned recently from Syria.
Anbar province was a former stronghold of Al-Qaeda-led insurgents fighting US forces.
But since September 2006, the local Sunni Arabs from the province, who were the main supporters of the militant group, have sided with the US military in fighting the group.