Four top al Qaeda-linked operatives were captured in Iraq during a series of raids aimed at flushing out the insurgent group from a troubled central province, the Iraqi military said on Sunday.
Iraqi troops arrested the wanted suspects in a series of night raids in Diyala province on Saturday and early Sunday, which were branded a "major success" by defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari.
The suspects included Adnan Gumer Mohammed, a Qaeda judge suspected of administering justice under sharia law, and Qussai Ali Khalaf, accused of being a Diyala province chief for the Islamic State of Iraq, an al Qaeda ally. Alleged provincial military head of the Islamic State of Iraq, Ahmed Quasim Jabbar, was also detained, as was Antisar Khudair, a woman believed to have been responsible for recruiting female suicide bombers.