| A suspected leader of Al-Qaeda in western Iraq's Anbar province has been arrested after a tip-off, police said on Friday. "Mahmud Kraydi, alias Abu Hunata, considered to be the leader of Al-Qaeda in Ramadi, was arrested at Sharqat (in Salaheddin province) on the basis of intelligence," said regional police chief General Hamad Namis al-Jubburi. After the US-led invasion of 2003, Ramadi was an Al-Qaeda stronghold in Anbar province until the jihadists were ousted as Arab tribes banded together in 2006 to form Sahwa -- "Awakening" -- councils funded by the United States. Other areas of Iraq quickly followed, and the US military said that by December last year nearly 80,000 Sunni Arabs, as well as Shiites, had signed on to the Awakening movements and neighbourhood watch-type groups. Aided by the US military and Iraqi forces, these groups have played a key role in reducing sectarian violence across the country. |