An al Qaeda operative with close ties to the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks was captured last week in Iraq, President George W. Bush said on Monday.
Bush said the al Qaeda figure, Hassan Ghul, was helping al Qaeda step up attacks by insurgents against US troops in Iraq.
Al Qaeda members are believed to have entered Iraq after the war last year that toppled President Saddam Hussein.
Bush said Ghul "reported directly" to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is suspected of co-ordinating the September 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people and who was captured in Pakistan in March.
He is now in US custody.
"He (Ghul) was moving money and messages around South Asia and the Middle East. He's a part of this network of haters that we're dismantling," Bush said during a speech in Little Rock.
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