Claims of capture of `shadowy leader' of some Sunni Insurgents

Insurgent leader 'held' in Iraq

WHO:Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the self-styled 'shadowy leader' leader of the Sunni Arab group the Islamic State in Iraq, was captured in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad.
virtually nothing is known of al-Baghdadi, including his real name. It is widely assumed that the name al-Baghdadi was taken as part of a campaign to make al-Qaida appear more of a homegrown Iraqi movement rather than an organization dominated by foreigners.

Sunni Islamic State of Iraq

The self-styled Islamic State of Iraq was proclaimed in October, when a militant network that includes al-Qaida in Iraq announced in a video that it had established an Islamic state in six provinces including Baghdad that have large Sunni populations, along with parts of two other central provinces that are predominantly Shiite. Its base has been taking shape in some towns and cities of Anbar province where a government presence hardly exists.

The group is considered hard lined in it's positions of Muslim propriety. However the group does not seem to seek acceptance as a political body, and acts more like a terrorist group.


The Raped Woman and the Killing of 18 Policemen

Last weekend, the Islamic State posted an online video of the execution-style shooting of 18 Iraqi security troops kneeling on the ground near a citrus grove. The three-minute video claimed the 18 kidnapped government security forces were slain in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police in Baghdad.


Other Crimes Charged and Claimed

Maj. Troy L. Gilbert

On Friday, the Islamic State of Iraq announced it would soon release a video on the death of a U.S. Air Force pilot whose F-16 jet crashed Nov. 27 north of Baghdad, according to IntelCenter, which monitors insurgent Web sites.

The pilot, Maj. Troy L. Gilbert, was listed officially as "whereabouts unknown" but then reported by the U.S. military as dead following DNA tests from remains at the scene. IntelCenter said it was unclear what the video would show.

Helicopters Shot Down

The Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for downing several of the U.S. helicopters lost since Jan. 20, including one in Diyala province that killed 12 soldiers and a Sea Knight transport helicopter north of Fallujah that killed seven.

Prison Break

On Wednesday, the group claimed in a Web posting that its members stormed a northern Iraqi prison the previous day and freed 150 inmates there. The statement said the raid was personally ordered by al-Baghdadi.

Iraqi police had said gunmen stormed the Badoosh prison, 15 miles northwest of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, and freed about 140 inmates, going cell to cell, then fled themselves.




US Did not Confirm

US Did not Confirm that it was trully Abu Omar al-Baghdadi who as arrested along with several other insurgents in a raid in the town of Abu Ghraib U.S. officials had no confirmation of the capture and said they were looking into the report.

Since it is supposedly unknown who Abu Omar al-Baghdadi really is, it would be hard to confirm that he has been captured.