CAIRO (Agencies)
Authorities have identified the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, as Hamid Dawoud al-Zawi, an Iraqi police official told Al Arabiya News Channel.
Al-Baghdadi, who heads the Islamic State of Iraq, is originally from Haditha. He served in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein before joining al-Qaeda in 2003, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. military in Iraq did not confirm the report, citing security reasons. Until now, it has described Baghdadi as fictitious.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi Sunni delegation on a visit to Cairo urged Arab countries to act against what it called the "Iranian occupation" of Iraq.
"We would like a common Arab position to save Iraq and its people...(in the face of) the Iranian occupation," Sheikh Majid Abdel Razzak al-Ali Suleiman said after a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
"Such an Arab position, led by Egypt, is necessary to weaken Iran's role in Iraq, because if Tehran occupies this country, it will occupy other Arab countries too," said the head of the Dulaim tribe, which is concentrated mainly in Anbar province, west of Baghdad.
Sunni tribes from Anbar, a onetime stronghold of the anti-US insurgency, have recently allied themselves with US troops against al-Qaeda militants, while keeping their distance from the Shiite-dominated Baghdad government.
The delegation also called on Arab countries to re-open their missions in Baghdad "so that the territory is not left to Iran."
Suleiman said that all Iraqis, whether from north or south, "are ready to guarantee Arab diplomats' security."
For his part, Aboul Gheit said his country was seriously considering sending a security mission to Iraq in order to assess conditions for re-opening an embassy in Iraq, according to his spokesman Hossam Zaki. |
