The Iraqi army arrested a senior aide of al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Baghdad yesterday evening, a Defence Ministry spokesman said today.
"The Iraqi army forces arrested three terrorists who belong to al-Qaeda, one of them is a senior aide of Zarqawi in Baghdad, Kassim al-Ani," the spokesman said.
"He was one of the most wanted ones."
Ani is suspected of being behind many attacks in the Iraqi capital. Zarqawi and al-Qaeda have been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Iraq since 2003, often going after Shia Muslim targets in what
US officials say is an attempt to provoke civil war with Iraq's once-dominant Sunni Arab minority.
Iraqi security forces and the US military often say they have detained or killed key al-Qaeda militants. But Zarqawi remains at large, despite a $25 million bounty on his head.