Zarqawi Aide Captured in Jordan

Jordanian officials say they have arrested a senior al-Qaeda figure heavily involved in Iraq’s insurgency.

Security officials in Jordan’s capital, Amman, refused to identify the man, said to be a key aide to Iraq’s most wanted militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Jordanian TV said the man was wanted for robbery, kidnap and murders. There was no immediate clue to his name or how he was captured, but security officials said details would be aired on a TV special on Thursday evening. [source]

The first question which comes to mind is an obvious one: who is it? If it’s as “big” as they claim it could be Abu Hafs Al-Qarni, Zarqawi’s deputy. The second question is that of credibility. It will be interesting to see the confession on TV tomorrow so soon after the Hamas trio confessions were aired. Will this latest one increase the government’s credibility or will the latest state of incredulity play its part?

UPDATE:

AMMAN, May 23, 2006 (AFP) – A suspected member of Al-Qaeda group in
Iraq confessed on Jordanian television Tuesday to murdering last year a Jordanian driver in Iraq and abducting two Moroccan embassy employees

The man who identified himself as Iraqi national Ziad Khalaf al-Karbuli said during the 15-minute tape that he shot to death Khalid Dassuki “with my personal revolver” in September inside Iraq.

“I fired two shots at his head,” Karbuli said.

He also claimed responsibility for the abduction of the two Moroccans in October and said they were later handed over to the Al-Qaeda group in Iraq run by Jordanian-born Islamist fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

State television, quoting a security source, identified Karbuli as a customs employee on the Iraqi border and said he was arrested in a joint operation by the intelligence forces and army special forces after drawing him out of Iraq.

Karbuli also confessed during his interrogation by the Jordanian judicial authorities of having abducted an aide to a former Iraqi finance minister who was on his way from Jordan to Iraq, the security source was quoted as saying.

According to the source Karbuli also confessed that he killed four Iraqi national guards, television reported. [source]

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