Two al Qaeda members killed in Iraq – US military

By Charles Aldinger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two al Qaeda members, one a cell
leader accused of taking part in at least three videotaped
beheadings, have been killed in Iraq, the U.S. military said on
Wednesday.

The suspected cell leader was killed during a raid on a
house in Mosul on Saturday, while the second al Qaeda member,
identified as Abu Du’a, was believed to have died in an air
strike near Qaim in western Iraq on Wednesday.

“Intelligence sources indicate that Abu Du’a, who helped
Syrians and Saudis enter Iraq to intimidate and kill Iraqi
citizens, was in the house at the time of the strike,” the
military said in a statement in Baghdad.

His body had not been recovered, but the air strike
effectively destroyed the building, it added.

The U.S. military identified the cell leader killed in
Mosul as Nashwan Mijhim Muslet and said his chief of security,
Nahi Achmed Obeid Sultan, or Abu Hassan, also died in the raid
by U.S.-led forces.

“Muslet, also known as Abu Tayir or Abu Zaid, was a senior
operational al-Qaeda cell leader who operated specifically in
the Mosul area,” the military said.

It said he personally assisted in the beheadings of three
Mosul citizens and that a number of beheadings by his cell were
filmed to intimidate Iraqi citizens.

The statement on Wednesday’s air raid said “Du’a was linked
to other al Qaeda in Iraq and terrorists and foreign fighter
facilitators in the Qaim, Karabilah and Husaybah areas.”

Intelligence sources indicated he was connected to
intimidation, torture and murder of civilians in the Qaim area,
it said.

“Du’a held religious courts to try local citizens charged
with supporting the Iraqi government and coalition forces. He
would kidnap individuals or entire families, accuse them,
pronounce sentence and then publicly execute them.”

The U.S. statement said Abu Du’a's al Qaeda connections
extended to Syria and Saudi Arabia, where most of his foreign
fighters were reportedly recruited.

“He set up and ran a system that funneled foreign fighters
from Syria into the Qaim area. These fighters were then sent to
local terrorist cells where they were used to attack innocent
Iraqi citizens and Iraqi security and coalition forces,” the
military said.