Terror chief barely escapes capture

BEIRUT - Iraqi and U.S. forces have come close to capturing Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi at least twice since mid-January, according to Kurdish intelligence officials.

In each case, Iraq's most wanted man escaped shortly before raids on his hideouts, the two officials said in phone interviews from Iraq. Even though al-Zarqawi fled, Iraqi and U.S. officials were pleased by the accuracy of the intelligence that led to the raids.

"They came very close to capturing him," one of the Kurdish officials said. "They had never been this close previously, and it means that the new intelligence they're gathering is much better than before."

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, would not say where and when the raids took place.

Al-Zarqawi's close calls are one sign that his militant network in Iraq has sustained serious losses and may be unraveling. Since early this month, Iraqi and U.S. forces have carried out a series of little-noticed raids in Baghdad, Mosul and other areas that led to the killing or capture of at least eight al-Zarqawi operatives.

The recent arrests followed the capture of one of al-Zarqawi's top lieutenants, Abu Omar al-Kurdi, in a Jan. 15 raid in Baghdad. Al-Kurdi has provided detailed information about his boss' movements, hiding places and communication methods, according to the intelligence officials.

"Al-Kurdi opened the door to more arrests," one of the officials said. "He has given valuable intelligence about security arrangements for al-Zarqawi and others in the terrorist network."

Two other leaders of al-Zarqawi's group arrested in January have been providing interrogators with information about his activities. They are Anad Mohammed Qais, a top military adviser, and Salah Suleiman Loheibi, head of the group's Baghdad operations.

Al-Zarqawi is possibly hiding in the northern city of Mosul, or in a nearby region bordered by the towns of Tal Afar and Hamam Al-Ali, the Kurdish officials said. The area has strong networks of Islamic militants and former loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime.

Al-Zarqawi, who was born in Jordan, has claimed credit -- or has been blamed by U.S. and Iraqi officials -- for a majority of the bloodiest suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners in Iraq over the past year. U.S. officials say al-Zarqawi is masterminding a terror network in Iraq at the behest of Osama bin Laden. But al-Zarqawi has shown a tendency to operate independently through his Tawhid wa Jihad (Monotheism and Holy War) group and other militant networks.

In July, U.S. officials raised the reward for information leading to al-Zarqawi's arrest or killing to $25 million, equal to the bounty on bin Laden's head. The Bush administration has consistently labeled al-Zarqawi as the main force behind the Iraqi insurgency. To some Iraqis, the U.S. focus on al-Zarqawi is part of a political strategy to portray the insurgency as driven by foreign militants.

The level of detail being provided to interrogators by captured al-Zarqawi operatives suggests that Iraqi and U.S. officials are closing in on the militant and disrupting some of his security procedures. Among the most recent setbacks to his network, according to Kurdish officials:

On Feb. 1, Iraqi and Kurdish forces captured Sami Ali Faidy, a leader of Ansar al-Islam, in a raid near Mosul. Faidy led a group of 80 Islamic militants based in Mosul. He also was the top aide to a key al-Zarqawi lieutenant named Mohammed Khalef Shakara, or Abu Talha, who is still at large.

On Feb. 11, Iraqi forces conducting a raid in Baghdad killed Adel Mujtaba, who designed Web sites for al-Zarqawi's groups. The sites included videos showing the torture and beheadings of Iraqis and foreigners taken hostage by militants. Mujtaba was the third propaganda chief in al-Zarqawi's network to have been killed since January.

On Feb. 12, a joint Iraqi-U.S. raid in central Baghdad netted three leaders of al-Zarqawi's operations in the city. The militants -- Hazif Sattar, his brother Mohammed and his son Abed -- were arrested in an apartment near the Palestine and Sheraton hotels, where many Western contractors and journalists live.

On Feb. 16, Iraqi forces arrested Harbi Khudair Hamudi in a hideout near Mosul. Hamudi, who was a general in the Iraqi air force under Hussein's regime, was the Mosul leader of the Salafi Jihadist Group, a little known militant group loosely allied with al-Zarqawi. The group's deputy leader, Fares Younis, also was captured.

The arrests highlight Mosul's role as a center linking the different strains of the Iraqi insurgency. The city was a Baathist stronghold and also has a tradition of Islamic militancy dating to the 1940s, when the Muslim Brotherhood founded its first Iraqi branch there. Naturally, the city of 1.5 million has become a meeting place for Baathists and Islamic militants.

Kurdish officials say the city also became a center for the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam (Partisans of Islam), which once had about 700 members and has provided scores of recruits for suicide bombings since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Ansar moved many of its operations to Mosul after it was driven out of a remote, mountainous part of northern Iraq by U.S. bombardment.

"The insurgents are using the infrastructure of the old Iraqi army," said Sadi Ahmed Pire, a leading Kurdish security official in Mosul. "They are using the forests for training and hiding themselves. ... They have a good base of support inside Mosul."