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Militant turncoat leads Iraqis to al-Qaida chiefs
Long piece and worth every bit.BAGHDAD -- Leery of using a mobile phone, the militant tasked with directing some of Baghdad's deadliest recent bombings would get his orders from al-Qaida in Iraq's leadership by meeting a go-between near a grocery store named Mr. Milk. So after Iraqi security forces nabbed the militant, Munaf Abdul-Rahim al-Rawi, it was to Mr. Milk's store that he led investigators. That was the first step culminating in what Iraqi and American officials called a devastating blow to the terror group: the killing of al-Qaida in Iraq's secretive two top leaders in a raid last week. In an interview this week with The Associated Press, al-Rawi offered a rare insight into the shadowy terror group that continues to plague Iraq after years of deadly attacks aiming to push the country into civil war. Al-Rawi's arrest itself was something of a coup for Iraqi security forces. Known by his underlings as "the dictator," al-Rawi commanded al-Qaida operations in Baghdad, and an Iraqi security spokesman confirmed that al-Rawi played a role in a number of attacks, including the August 2009 bombings of several government ministries that killed more than 100 people. Posted by: Steve White 2010-05-01 |
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