The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaeda-inspired group that challenged the authority of Iraq's government, was captured Friday in a raid on the western outskirts of Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman said.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was arrested along with several other suspects in a raid in the town of Abu Ghraib, said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman for the Baghdad security operation. Al-Moussawi said al-Baghdadi admitted his identity, as did another "of the terrorists" who confirmed "that the one in our hands is al-Baghdadi."
Meanwhile, the Iraqi judge who sentenced Iraq's ousted president Saddam Hussein to death has fled Iraq seeking asylum in Britain. Raouf Abdel-Rahman, a member of Iraq's Kurdish minority, has requested political asylum in Britain with his family, al-Jazeera TV reported on Friday.
Abdel-Rahman headed the Supreme Iraq Criminal Tribunal that heard Saddam's genocide trial and found him guilty, leading to his execution.
