Al-Queda Leader Confesses to Killing Jordanians

AMMAN (JT) â?? A suspected Iraqi member of Al Qaeda confessed Tuesday on Jordan TV to shooting a citizen in the head and kidnapping two Moroccan diplomats in the neighbouring country last year.

Ziyad Khalaf Karbouli, tadalafil described as a local leader of Al Qaeda â??in charge of war bountiesâ? in the Iraqi town of Rutba, near the border with Jordan, also confessed to kidnapping a senior Iraqi official and looting trucks heading from Jordan to Iraq.

Also known as Abu Huthaifa, Karbouli exploited his job as a customs clearance official at the Jordan-Iraq border to carry out his crimes, which also included participation in killing four Iraqi national guardsmen, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Karbouli detailed on TV the abduction and murder of Jordanian Khaled Dasouqi, a driver who worked on the Baghdad-Amman highway six months ago.

The terror suspect said a person he identified as Nabhan kidnapped Dasouqi â??for collaborating with the Americans.â? â??I received instructions from [military leader] Yasser Mahmoud Harbi [also known as Abu Obaida] that any apprehended Jordanian should be brought to Al Qaeda hideouts,â? he said.

â??Al Qaeda bears so much malice against Jordan and Jordanians and accuses them of collaborating with the Americans.â?

Karbouli said he was ordered by another Al Qaeda military commander, Youssef Ramlawi, or Abu Azzam, to kill Dasouqi.

â??I said â??inshallahâ?? [God willing] and told Dasouqi â??I have to kill you.â?? He started pleading and said â??donâ??t kill me.â?? Then I told him â??I have to kill youâ?? and so I pulled my personal gun and shot him twice in the head and left him there, blindfolded and his hands tied behind his back. I rolled him over to make sure he was dead and put his passport and papers on his body and left.â?

Dasouqi is survived by his two wives and their five children.

According to Petra, the two Moroccan diplomats were killed, but Reuters reported that although Al Qaeda said in November it had sentenced the men to death, authorities in their country say they believe the pair were still alive and they were working for their release. More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 with 55 of them reported killed by their captors.

A General Intelligence Department (GID) unit, backed by Special Operations Forces, arrested Karbouli in an operation ordered by King Abdullah, Petra said. The GID on Monday said it arrested an important leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. [Jordan Times]