BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: A member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) was killed during the security operation that resulted in the capture of assailants on Baghdad’s Our Lady of Salvation Church on Saturday, Iraq’s interior minister revealed.“A leading member of the AQI, known as Abi Ammar al-Nejadi, was killed by Iraqi security forces,” Jawad al-Bolani said in statements reported by the semi-official al-Iraqiya TV.
Earlier, a security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency that the security operation, conducted in al-Mansour neighborhood, western Baghdad, targeted the detention of the so-called “AQI ruler of Baghdad”.
“A number of his escorts, one of them wounded in clashes with security forces, were captured,” the source said.
Maj. General Ahmed Abu-Rugheaf, the ministry’s police affairs director, said the name of that so-called ruler is Abu Hussein, a dentist and a former inmate of Basra’s Boca prison. Abu-Rugheaf had said the “terrorist” group that attacked Our Lady of Salvation Church earlier this month was arrested on Saturday.
“Security forces arrested the 12-man terrorist group, among them the new military commander of al-Qaeda Organization in Baghdad,” he said in statements broadcast by al-Iraqiya.
“The group members confessed to involvement in and responsibility for the attack on Our Lady of Salvation Church. They also confessed to their participation in a large number of terrorist operations, including attacks on gold jewelry stores, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), al-Arabiya channel and the recent blasts in Baghdad, as well as to home-making of explosive charges and belts,” he added.
Six tons of explosive charges, along with a quantity of toxic material, were also seized in their hideout, he said.