Baghdad: US and Iraqi forces have arrested the second most senior figure in al Qaeda in Iraq a few days ago, National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said on Sunday, adding the group was 'severely wounded'.
He named the man as Hamed Juma Faris al-Suaidi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, and said he was the deputy to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took over the Sunni Islamist insurgent group after US troops killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in June.
"He was hiding in a building used by families, he wanted to use children and women as human shields as our forces attempted to capture him," he told a press conference. "I can say that al Qaeda in Iraq is severely wounded."
Iraqi and US officials have blamed al Qaeda in Iraq for some of the bloodiest attacks against civilians in Iraq that they say are part of a campaign to ignite a sectarian civil war between majority Shias and minority Sunnis.
An al Qaeda-linked group urged Sunnis this week to step up attacks against Shias, empowered after US-sponsored elections in Iraq.
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