Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki confirmed on Tuesday that the authorities are holding Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said to be the leader of the local al Qaeda umbrella group blamed for a wave of bloodshed across the nation. Iraqi security forces released what they said was the first known picture of Baghdadi, showing a middle-aged man with dark skin and a close-cropped beard and moustache wearing a black shirt.
"The criminal terrorist Abu Omar al-Baghdadi is in the hands of justice," Maliki's office said in a statement, referring to the shadowy leader of the group, whom the US military once described as a fictional character. Iraqi police announced on Thursday they had arrested Baghdadi in the capital but did not release any pictures of the man.
The al Qaeda leader has been reported captured or killed several times in the past. Maliki referred to Baghdadi as "the head of evil, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq," and said he had ties to the followers of the secular former regime of executed dictator Saddam Hussein. "This terrorist has strong relations with the previous regime and made a devilish alliance with its followers that left its mark on the innocent bodies of children, women and sheikhs in bloody scenes."
Baghdadi is said to be the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, a self-styled umbrella organisation for al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent groups fighting US and Iraqi forces that has pledged loyalty to Osama bin Laden. "Al Qaeda consists of leaders, individual members and financing, and surely when one of these elements is affected, it affects (the others)," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told the Al-Arabiya television.