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Stryker soldiers catch terrorist at top of the list

Jun-18-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune


Fort Lewis troops have captured one of the most wanted terrorist leaders in Iraq, officials said.

Muhammad Khalaf Shakara, also known as Abu Talha, directed hundreds of bombings and other attacks on American and Iraqi soldiers as well as on Iraqi government officials and facilities, Stryker brigade and other U.S. military officials said.

His capture Tuesday in a quiet neighborhood in Mosul is the biggest blow to the insurgency since U.S. troops killed Saddam Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay in 2003, said Lt. Col. David Spencer, intelligence officer with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.[...]

Stryker brigade commander Col. Bob Brown told the BBC on Thursday that videotapes captured with Abu Talha show more than 50 suicide bombings he directed. Other videos and evidence connect him to more than 100 killings, including captives who were beheaded or shot in the head, he said.

U.S. military officials in Baghdad on Thursday said U.S. and Iraqi troops captured Shakara at an associate’s house in Mosul. Although he reportedly wore a suicide-bomber vest constantly and vowed not to be taken alive, he was detained without a struggle.

“He had a pistol. He could have defended himself, but he didn’t,” said Spencer, the Stryker brigade intelligence officer.

He said U.S. and Iraqi forces have made steady progress in capturing or killing members of Zarqawi’s network in Mosul. Abu Talha was responsible for tactics and operations – for example, it was on his orders that insurgents have carried out the wave of suicide bombings that have killed scores of Iraqi civilians, government troops and U.S. soldiers the past three months, Spencer said.[...]

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U.S. and Iraqi Troops Capture a Top Militant Leader in Mosul - New York Times


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