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Abu Hamza al-Muhajer Abu Hamza al-Muhajer al-Qaeda in Iraq Iraq Egyptian At Large 20060907  
    took over leadership of the terror network and was endorsed by Osama bin Laden after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed
  Abu Hamza al-Muhajer al-Qaida in Iraq   20061008 Link

Iraq
Four terrorists arrested in Baghdad
2022-09-16
[Shafaq News] Iraq's federal police on Wednesday said it has arrested four terrorists, including a senior commander, in a security operation in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

An official statement said that the operation was supervised by the intelligence chief in the federal police agency and the commander of the 17th brigade.

According to the statement, the suspicious group were spotted on the pilgrimage road near al-Dawra area in Baghdad and joint security force managed to detain its members.

The arrestees, the statement said, were wanted pursuant to Article 4/Terrorism for ties to the terrorist organization of ISIS.

The agency said that the group was led by the infamous terrorist, Abu Jarrah. The arrestee served in the Abu Hamza al-Muhajer camp and was a commander of several terrorist groups.

In the same context, three holy warriors were captured by joint forces from the 6th, 10th, and 16th brigade in Nineveh's village of Badosh, al-Anbar's Fallujah,
... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids...
 and Baghdad's Ibrahim bin Ali, all of whom are wanted for charges related to terrorism.
Related:
Baghdad: 2022-09-12 ISIS kidnaps Kurdish shepherd in Diyala, says official
Baghdad: 2022-09-11 Twelve people returned to Azerbaijan from Syria
Baghdad: 2022-09-08 Report: With killers in charge, Iraq faces more chaos and woe
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Iraq
Iraq Insurgent Group Names Minister
2007-09-04
A Sunni insurgent coalition in Iraq announced Monday the appointment of an education minister to the group's so-called 10-member ``Islamic Cabinet,'' set up in April to challenge the Iraqi government. In a statement posted on an Islamic Web site, the Islamic State of Iraq, made up of eight insurgent groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq, said its leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi chose Mohammed Khalil al-Badria for the education position. Al-Baghdadi tasked al-Badria with ``protecting our sons against moral and ideological deviation and raising a new generation of sons of Islam based on true Islamic teachings and away from the filth of secular tenets.''
I think this means preparing them to be splodydopes.
The authenticity of the statement could not be verified,
... nor did it really matter since the MSM reported it verbatim ...
...but it was published by an Islamic Web forum that usually carries announcements by militant groups.

The formation of the Cabinet in April was meant to present the Islamic State of Iraq as a ``legitimate'' alternative to the U.S.-backed, Shiite-led administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - and to demonstrate that it was only growing in power despite the U.S. military push against insurgents. The group includes the usual thugs new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, as ``war minister'' and Sheik Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Falahi as ``first minister.'' The U.S. military has identified al-Muhajer by a different pseudonym, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
Isn't he rather new at the job? What happened to his predecessor?
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon officials link Fatah al-Islam to Bar Elias terror cell
2007-06-09
Official reports indicated a connection between Fatah al-Islam and members of a terror cell arrested during raids on hideouts in east Lebanon's Bekaa valley, the daily An Nahar said Friday. On Friday, Lebanese border police at Masnaa border crossing in eastern Lebanon detained 12 men as they tried to enter the country with forged foreign passports, state-run National News Agency said.

A statement by the General Directorate for State Security said three detainees, arrested near the Bekaa town of Bar Elias about 10 kilometers from the main border crossing to Syria on Wednesday, testified that they belonged to the terrorist group al-Qaida.

Police late Thursday arrested a Syrian-Lebanese man after raiding his apartment in the village of Ghazzeh in Western Bekaa, An Nahar said. Security officials said troops confiscated detonators and timers from the apartment of Syrian-born Abdullah Barakat, a naturalized Lebanese citizen.

Citing ministerial sources, An Nahar said Ahmed Merhi, a Lebanese recently detained in Ashrafiyeh, had confessed that he was a "servant" and that he had been receiving instructions from Syrian officers. The sources said Merhi had also admitted to "organizing Fatah al-Islam activities" in Lebanon and that he had recruited young men from Syria and Iraq to join the terrorist group. Merhi said the recruits were smuggled overland from Iraq to Lebanon via Syria.

Fatah al-Islam has been fighting the Lebanese army since May 20 at the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared near the northern city of Tripoli.

On Thursday Lebanese troops discovered two cars and a van rigged with explosives during a raid on a hideout in Bar Elias. The statement by the General Directorate for State Security said the detainees also testified to rigging the vehicles -- two Mercedes Benz and a Volkswagen -- with explosives. Security sources said the suspects and weapons have been smuggled in from Syria to support Fatah al-Islam militants in their attacks aimed at destabilizing Lebanon.

An Nahar said the detainees from Wednesday's raids were a Saudi, not an Iraqi as earlier reported, and two Syrians. It said the Saudi, identified as Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz al-Meghamis, belonged to Abu Hamza al Muhajer, the militant named as al-Qaida's new leader. An Nahar identified the Syrians as Ahmed Mohammed Osseili and Mohammed Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahim.
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Iraq
Zawahiri Urges Iraqis to Take Jihad to Other ME Countries
2007-05-28
The deputy leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has urged supporters in Iraq to extend their "holy war" to other Middle Eastern countries. In a letter sent to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq in the past few weeks, Zawahiri claims that it is defeating U.S. forces and urges followers to expand their campaign of terror. He conjures a vision of an Islamic state comprising Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, where Al Qaeda has already gained its first footholds.

The goal of an Islamic "greater Syria," first outlined by Zawahiri two years ago, is detailed in the letter amid growing concern about the activities of new groups under Al Qaeda's influence in the countries concerned. Zawahiri's letter was sent to Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and intercepted by a Middle Eastern intelligence service.
But there is no al-Qaeda in Iraq. Rosie O'Donnell said so.
A senior American security source said he was aware of the letter and Al Qaeda's growing emphasis on spreading jihad through a volatile region. The source said Zawahiri, a Sunni, was determined to prevent Lebanon falling into the hands of the Shiite Hezbollah movement, which has tried to bring down the government. "Al Qaeda is trying very hard to seize a foothold in Syria," the American source added.
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Iraq
With No Body, Al-Masri Death in Question
2007-05-02
BAGHDAD (AP) - The Interior Ministry is trying to gain custody of what it claimed was the body of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, a senior Iraqi official said Wednesday, amid widespread skepticism over reports that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq had been killed. Meanwhile, a police official in Anbar province said al-Masri died when his explosives belt detonated during fighting but security forces could not retrieve the body because it was in a part of the desert controlled by the terror group.
So it's a tweezers and sponge operation
U.S. authorities urged caution about the reports, saying they had not been confirmed and warning that even if the claim were true, the death of the shadowy Egyptian militant likely would not spell the end of the terror movement in Iraq. ``We still don't know what the status is,'' U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox said Wednesday, adding the U.S. military was not involved in the operation that purportedly killed al-Masri. ``I haven't seen any reports that we have any bodies, or that we took custody, or that we had any participation there,'' he said at a news conference in Baghdad, adding there were no American forces in the area where it was said to have occurred.

Reports of al-Masri's death first emerged Tuesday from the Interior Ministry, which said the al-Qaida leader was gunned down by rivals in his movement Tuesday at a bridge near Lake Tharthar just north of Baghdad, where the U.S. military believes al-Qaida operates training camps. In a series of conflicting statements, Iraqi officials later said al-Masri's death had not been confirmed, although they believed they had strong intelligence that it was true. Senior Interior Ministry official Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal said Wednesday that officials were trying to gain custody of the body, but he declined to comment further.

Iraqi officials have released similar reports about the killing or capture of top insurgent figures, only to acknowledge later that the claims were inaccurate.

An al-Qaida front organization denied that al-Masri, who also is known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer and has a $1 million bounty on his head, had been killed. The Islamic State of Iraq said in a Web statement that al-Masri was ``alive and still fighting the enemy of God.'' But the statement, posted on an extremist Web site, offered no evidence to support the claim. Al-Masri assumed leadership of al-Qaida after his charismatic predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike last June.

Late Tuesday, the leader of a Sunni Arab group in opposed to al-Qaida told Iraqi television that his fighters tracked down and killed al-Masri along with seven of his aides, two of them Saudis. ``Eyewitnesses confirmed his death and their corpses are still at the scene,'' said Abdul-Sattar al-Rishawi, head of the Anbar Salvation Council in the vast insurgent stronghold.

Citing information from informants, police Lt. Col. Jabbar Rashid al-Dulaimi, who is a member the Salvation Council, said Wednesday that al-Masri had been killed along with two aides the day before when an explosives belt he was wearing detonated during fighting in the desert northwest of Baghdad. He identified the aides as Mullah Qahtan al-Marawi and Ismail al-Iraqi. He said Iraqi authorities had not been able to retrieve the body because it was in an area controlled by al-Qaida fighters but insisted they were ``100 percent certain'' al-Masri had been killed.

The report of al-Masri's death occurred at a time when al-Qaida is locked in a violent power struggle with other Sunni insurgents angry over its effort to dominate the movement and over the role of foreigners in the terror network. More than 200 Sunni sheiks in Anbar province have decided to form a political party to oppose al-Qaida.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said al-Masri's death would be a positive development, but he played down suggestions it would spell the end of the terror threat in Iraq. ``Clearly taking a major terrorist off the battlefield is an important thing and if we can confirm it, if this did happen, without question it would be a significant and positive development,'' Crocker told reporters in Washington via a teleconference. ``That said, I would not expect it to in any way bring to an end al-Qaida's activities in Iraq,'' he added. ``My sense is that it is now a very decentralized terrorist effort, so while removing its current head would be a good and positive thing, I think we have to expect that we will need to continue dealing with further al-Qaida attacks.''

Clashes have erupted between al-Qaida and other insurgent groups, notably the nationalist 1920 Revolution Brigades and the Islamic Army in Iraq, in at least three provinces, U.S. officers say. The decision to declare the Islamic State of Iraq under the leadership of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was widely seen as an effort by al-Qaida to put an Iraqi face on the movement. Al-Masri is the ``war minister'' of the self-declared state.

At the same time, the U.S. military has stepped up covert operations to disrupt the terror network. Last Friday, the Pentagon announced the arrest of veteran jihadist Abdul al-Hadi al-Iraqi, an associate of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The Pentagon did not say where al-Iraqi was arrested but said he was allegedly trying to return to his native Iraq.

According to associates in Afghanistan, al-Masri has been involved in Islamic extremist movements since 1982, when he joined Islamic Jihad, a terror group led by Ayman al-Zawahri, who became bin Laden's chief deputy. Al-Masri fought with Muslim rebels against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s and later ran al-Qaida training camps there.
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Iraq
Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief lurked in the shadows
2007-05-02
Abu Ayyub al-Masri's claimed death is only the latest in a series of unconfirmed reports on the shadowy Egyptian leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq whose true role in the insurgency has never been established.
The Iraqi interior ministry announced on Tuesday that they had "strong" intelligence" that Masri had been killed in clashes between insurgent groups. But the Al-Qaeda kingpin, who has been given several different names, had already been erroneously reported dead in October and wounded in February.

Masri, an Egyptian, succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as head of one of Iraq's deadliest insurgent groups after Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike in June 2006. The details about Masri's real identity -- even his name-- have been a source of debate among Iraqi and US security officials and analysts trying to monitor the group. Al-Qaeda, for its part, has said in Internet messages that its new leader is one Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, rather than the more foreign-sounding Masri, whose name means "the Egyptian." US officials say the two are one and the same.
"al-Muhajer" means "the immigrant." Presumably he "immigrated" from Egypt by way of Afghanistan, but they don't want to push the issue of his being an Egyptian.
Analysts believe Masri was part of a generation of Islamist militants who carried out attacks in Egypt throughout the 1980s and 1990s before travelling to Afghanistan and joining Al-Qaeda. "His real name is Yussef al-Dardiri, he is around 38 years old and he comes from Upper Egypt," Montasser al-Zayat, an Egyptian lawyer and former member of the Islamist group Gamaa Islamiya, told AFP last year. According to Zayat, who says he does not know him personally, Masri lived in the Cairo slum of Zawiya Hamra before going to Afghanistan in the late 1980s and then on to Iraq via Iran. Egyptian security services, however, claim to have never heard of him.

The US military believes he is an explosives expert specialising in the construction of car bombs, a key weapon of Iraq's Sunni insurgency, and that he made his way to Iraq from Afghanistan after the March 2003 invasion. Masri and Zarqawi met in Afghanistan in 1999, added US officials, when they were both at Al-Faruq training camp where he became an explosives expert, a skill he would use to great effect in Iraq.

But Diaa Rashwan, a leading expert on political Islam at Cairo's Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies, said he had not come across the name. "There is no trace of such a name in the Egyptian radical Islamic files," he said. "The Americans have given details of his past, saying he joined Islamic Jihad in 1982 and make him out to be one of the founders of Al-Qaeda in Iraq without knowing his real name, which is difficult to believe," says Rashwan. "The Americans are eager to establish a non-Iraqi identity for Zarqawi's successor for political reasons. They need a symbol of international jihad (holy war) to justify their occupation of Iraq."

In June 2006 a posting on an Al-Qaeda-linked website said Muhajer had ordered the killing of two kidnapped American soldiers. "We announce good news to the Islamic nation from the battlefield... The two crusaders taken hostage have been executed by having their throats cut," the message said. The two US soldiers were later found south of Baghdad, their bodies showing signs of brutal torture, according to the Iraqi defence ministry.

In recent months, there have been indications that other more nationalist insurgent groups have grown disaffected with Al-Qaeda's tactics, including the large-scale attacks on Shiite civilians. There are unconfirmed reports of clashes between insurgent groups, and a coalition of powerful Sunni tribes from the western province of Anbar that was once sympathetic to the cause has thrown its lot in with the Americans. The US State Department posted a one million dollar reward for information leading to Masri's arrest.
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Iraq
Iraq probes reports of al-Masri's death
2007-05-01
BAGHDAD - Iraqi officials have received reports that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was killed by Sunni tribesmen, but the chief government spokesman said Tuesday the information has not been confirmed. The statement by spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh followed a welter of reports from other Iraqi officials that Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been killed. Iraqi officials have released similar reports in the past, only to acknowledge later they were inaccurate. U.S. officials said they could not confirm the reported death.

Al-Dabbagh told Al-Arabiya that word of al-Masri's purported death was based on "intelligence information," adding that "DNA tests should be done and we have to bring someone to identify the body." But he refused to say unequivocally whether Iraqi security forces have the body, citing security restrictions. Accounts were vague about when and where al-Masri supposedly died. "We will make an official announcement when we confirm that this person is Abu Ayyub al-Masri," he said. "The Iraqi government will work to identify him."

U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said the U.S. command was looking into the reports. "Obviously I hope it's true," Garver said, pointing out that previous Iraqi claims had proven false. "We want to be very careful before we confirm or deny anything like that."

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh told The Associated Press that al-Masri was believed to have been killed Monday in the Taji area north of Baghdad. "Preliminary reports said he was killed yesterday in Taji area in a battle involving a couple of insurgent groups, possibly some tribal people who have problems with al-Qaida. These reports have to be confirmed."

Tribesmen in the western Anbar province have been fighting al-Qaida for weeks and claim to have killed dozens of them. Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, took over leadership of the terror network and was endorsed by Osama bin Laden after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed last June in a U.S. airstrike in Diyala province.
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Iraq
Insurgents unveil Islamic cabinet and war minister for Iraq
2007-04-20
An insurgent coalition yesterday announced an "Islamic Cabinet" for Iraqi as it attempted to provide an alternative to the country's
democratically-elected
US-backed administration. The Islamic State of Iraq group named the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq as its "minister of war". The coalition of eight insurgent groups was first announced in October, claiming to hold territory in the Sunni-dominated areas of western and central Iraq.

In a online video released yesterday, a spokesman - whose face was obscured - denounced Iraq's rulers for the past decades including Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and the present government. He said they had "spread corruption and ruined the country and its people, until God helped the mujahideen (holy warriors) bring torture upon them. He added: "Now the Islamic State emerges as a state for Islam and the mujahideen." He then listed a 10-member "Cabinet," including Abu Hamza al-Muhajer as "war minister."

The US military and Iraqi government have identified him by another pseudonym, Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The Islamic state is led by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who holds the title of "Mayor of Mordor emir (prince) of the faithful." Other positions included ministers of information, "prisoners and martyrs," agriculture and health.

Rita Katz, director of the US-based SITE Institute which monitors militant postings, said the Cabinet announcement meant to enforce the message that the group was "serious about going forward and establishing the state they've announced as their plan."
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Iraq
Internet statement claims al-Qaida leader alive
2006-10-09
A statement posted Sunday on an internet Web site known as a clearing-house for al-Qaida material denied recent speculation that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq is dead. Reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been killed surfaced after a raid Tuesday that killed four militants in the western Iraqi town of Haditha. Al-Masri is believed to have taken over al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed June 7 in a US airstrike. On Thursday, the US military announced it was conducting DNA tests on a slain militant to determine if he is the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. However, US and Iraqi officials said it did not appear that the militant was al-Masri, which is a pseudonym for Abu Hamza al-Muhajer.
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Iraq
Zark, Jr., exhorts the boyz
2006-09-08
(CNN) -- The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq urged his followers to kill at least one American in the next two weeks using a sniper rifle, explosive or "whatever the battle may require," according to an audiotape that aired Thursday on Al-Jazeera. The Arabic news network identified the man on the tape as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, however CNN was unable to independently verify his identity.

Al-Muhajer took command of the terror network's partner group in Iraq after an American airstrike killed its former leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in June, U.S. officials say. Al-Muhajer, which means "the immigrant," is the pseudonym adopted by Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian militant believed to be an expert at making car bombs, U.S. officials say.

"I invite you not to drop your weapons, and don't let your souls or your enemies rest until each one of you kills at least one American within a period that does not exceed 15 days with a sniper's gunshot or incendiary devices or Molotov cocktail or a suicide car bomb -- whatever the battle may require," the speaker says on the tape. The recording is more sophisticated than past tapes released by al Qaeda in Iraq and includes sound effects such as a lion's roar, machine gun fire and a sword being unsheathed. Producers at times used echo effects on al-Muhajer's voice and included snippets of inspirational songs and verses from the Quran.
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Home Front: WoT
Osama shown with 9/11 attackers
2006-09-07
A VIDEO tape showing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden apparently meeting the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks has been aired for the first time today.

Arab television channel Al-Jazeera broadcast the tape just days ahead of the fifth anniversary of the deadly strikes on US cities and as the US Senate agreed to fund a new intelligence unit to hunt down bin Laden.

Al-Jazeera said the footage documented the "daily life" of al-Qaeda operatives as they trained and prepared for the attacks in the mountains of Afghanistan.

In one scene bin Laden is seen greeting a fighter against the backdrop of a mountain.

The video is said to feature two of the 19 Islamist militants that took part in the 9/11 attacks, Saudi nationals Hamza el-Ramdi and Wael el-Shemari.

They speak of the situation faced by Muslims in Bosnia and Chechnya.

Fifteen of the 19 attackers on September 11 were Saudis, and Al-Jazeera said it had only aired a few minutes of a document that lasted about an hour-and-a-half.

The footage also shows hand-to-hand combat practice between people wearing masks over their heads.

As the film went to air, the US Senate unanimously approved an additional $US200 million to this year's defence budget to fund an intelligence unit that would seek to hunt down bin Laden.

The measure, approved by a vote of 96 to 0, also requires the US Defence Department to report to Congress every three months about progress made toward apprehending bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The legislation was prepared by Democrats Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan as an amendment to the 2007 Defence Appropriations Bill being debated in the Senate this week.

"Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda, planned, financed and organised a terrorist operation that killed thousands of Americans. It has now been more than 1800 days since those attacks, and this man is still on the loose," said Mr Conrad.

"The Senate agrees that it is chief among our priorities in the war on terror to bring the mastermind behind September 11 to the justice that a mass murderer deserves," he said.

"Our amendment makes certain that bringing Osama bin Laden to justice will be one of our country's most important priorities, and that he is pursued with real energy and with focus, clarity and a specific set of goals," said Mr Dorgan.

Al-Jazeera today also broadcast a recording attributed to the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, in which he said he was sure of victory against US-led forces in the country.

The recording was also posted on an Islamist Internet site, but its authenticity could not be immediately established.

In the internet statement, Muhajer urges Sunni Muslims to kill at least one US citizen within the next two weeks.

"Oh followers of (Taliban leader) Mullah Mohammed Omar, oh sons of (Al-Qaeda leader) Osama bin Laden, oh disciples of (slain Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader) Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi ... I urge each of you to kill at least one American within a period not exceeding 15 days," he says.

"I do not doubt for an instant victory (against US-led forces in Iraq)."

Muhajer calls President George W. Bush a "liar" and a "dog".
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan stands by Saddam's daughter
2006-07-03
JORDAN insisted yesterday that deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter would remain under its protection, despite calls from authorities in Baghdad for her extradition.
Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit said no formal extradition request had been received from Iraq following the naming of Raghad Saddam Hussein as Baghdad's 16th most wanted fugitive.

Iraqi national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie called for Jordan, a US ally, to hand over Ms Hussein.

But Mr Bakhit said the ousted Iraqi president's daughter had complied with the conditions of her asylum in Jordan and that she remained under the protection of the royal family of King Abdullah II.

"She is the guest of the Hashemite royal family and under its protection as a seeker of asylum", in accordance with Arab tradition, he said.

Ms Hussein had heeded demands that she refrain from "any political or media activities", Mr Bakhit said, contradicting accusations by Mr Rubaie that she was a financial supporter of the insurgents in Iraq.

"These people are responsible for most of the bombings and indiscriminate killings aimed at hurting the Iraqi people and starting a sectarian war between Sunnis and Shi'ites," Mr Rubaie said as he presented a new list naming 41 Iraqis as wanted by the Baghdad Government.

The list includes Saddam's wife Sajida, who lives in the Gulf state of Qatar, as well as the Amman-based Ms Hussein.

But the ousted Iraqi leader's defence team dismissed the accusations against the two women as "totally without legal basis".

Lead counsel Khalil al-Dulaimi described the accusations of bankrolling the insurgency made against Saddam's daughter as absurd, saying: "If she had the financial means, she would have financially supported the defence team."

The new Iraqi wanted list was topped by Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, who was number two in Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council in Saddam's regime. He is the highest-ranking Iraqi official still on the run.

Washington has put a bounty of $US10million ($13.6 million) on the head of Mr Duri, who is said to be suffering from leukemia and who has in the past been reported to have died or been captured.

"He is likely still an operational leader with close ties to other insurgents," according to the list.

Mr Rubaie called for regional support in helping to track down fugitive suspects.

"Neighbouring countries must help Iraq and hand over those terrorists living within their territories," he said.

"Those who are outside must be handed over to Iraqi justice. We have evidence on every single one of them."

Jordan has had difficult relations with the Shia-led Government installed in Iraq after the US-led invasion of 2003.

The prominent role played by some Jordanians in the Sunni insurgency, notably by the late al-Qa'ida frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has fanned anti-Jordanian sentiment among Iraq's Shia majority.

And King Abdullah has angered the Baghdad authorities by warning of the mounting influence of Shia Iran in Iraq, Jordan's eastern neighbour.

Many on the new Iraqi wanted list were officials of the old regime who were in the US "deck of cards" of its 55 most wanted suspects released after the 2003 invasion, but who have yet to be captured.

The list includes al-Qa'ida's new Iraq frontman, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, at No30, with a $US50,000 price on his head, as well as Abdullah al-Janabi, the former head of the Mujahideen Shura Council, an al-Qa'ida insurgent alliance.

The US State Department authorised a reward of up to $US5million on Friday for information leading to the capture of the new al-Qa'ida leader in Iraq, whom it refers to as Abu Ayub al-Masri.
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