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Iraqi Official Says Second-in-Command of Al-Qaida in Iraq Arrested
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&ctl=13C7EB1:A6F02AD83191E1607C7A0CD4BD5545D19574F7DCC14957C0 Meanwhile, US
military says two Marines killed in al Anbar province and says
roadside blast killed two American soldiers in Baghdad Sunday





Iraqi national security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, addresses a press
conference, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday Sept. 3, 2006, on the arrest of
Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi

Iraq's national security advisor has announced the arrest of the
second-in-command of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group.

Mouwaffak al-Rubaie says Iraqi forces captured Hamed Jumaa Farid
al-Saeedi a few days ago near the city of Baquba.

Saeedi is accused of ordering the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine
in Samarra. The attack inflamed violence between Iraq's Shi'ites and
Sunnis.

Al-Rubaie says Iraqi forces killed or captured 20 other al-Qaida
members following Saeedi's arrest.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two Marines in al
Anbar province in recent days and said a roadside blast killed two
American soldiers in Baghdad Sunday.







Nouri al-Maliki

Meanwhile, Iraq's prime minister and the president of Iraqi Kurdistan
are trading criticism over a ban on flying the Iraqi flag in the
autonomous northern region. 

Kurdistan regional president Massoud Barzani Sunday defended his order
to remove the Iraqi flag from government offices and fly only the
Kurdish flag.

Mr. Maliki's office said only the Iraqi flag should be flown on
government buildings throughout the country, until parliament makes a
decision about it.

Iraq's Sunni Arabs have expressed fears that Kurds will try to break
away from the country under its new federal system.

In another development, the French news agency reports that one of its
Iraqi stringers Bilal Abdelrahman al-Obeidi was kidnapped August 14. 

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

 


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