Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq seized

11.38, Mon Sep 4 2006

Security officials claim to have arrested the second-in-command of the terror group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The arrest, "severely wounding" the network, came as talks between the United States and Iraq on transferring operational command of Iraq's forces to the Defence Ministry became deadlocked.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was demanding more independence for the US-trained army that Washington hopes can take over and let Americans go home.

Maliki also clashed with the leader of ethnic Kurds, who brought up the symbolic issue of flying the Iraqi national flag at government buildings in the autonomous Kurdish north.

Hours after an "embarrassed" US military again postponed a ceremony to hand command of Iraqi troops to the government, the national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie summoned reporters to a news conference to announce that Hamid Juma Faris al-Suaidi had been seized some days ago.

Al-Suaidi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was previously little know by western leaders.

The US military blames al-Qaeda in Iraq for spreading sectarian violence throughout the region.