US troops arrest al-Qaida cell leader
US troops said today they have captured a cell leader of the notorious al-Qaida in Iraq terror organisation.
Ammar Abu Bara, alias Amar Hussein Hasan, was arrested on Wednesday in Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city, by troops of the Army’s 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, a US statement said.
The statement said Abu Bara was taken into custody during a cordon and search operation in a neighbourhood in northern Mosul.
Abu Bara replaced Abu Talha, former terror cell leader for the Mosul area who was arrested last month, the statement added.
No US or Iraqi soldiers were injured in the operation.
Al-Qaida in Iraq is led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and has claimed responsibility for numerous bombings, kidnap-killing of foreign diplomats, beheadings of US and other foreign hostages and suicide attacks.
