Iraq: Arrested Al-Quaida Suspects Connected to Kidnap of US Journalist Now Linked to Hassan and Kember Kidnap

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Iraq: Arrested Al-Quaida Suspects Connected to Kidnap of US Journalist Now Linked to Hassan and Kember Kidnap

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It has been revealed that the man arrested as the suspected mastermind behind the kidnapping of US journalist, Jill Carroll in 2006 was arrested with a second, senior Al-Quaida suspect.  

Salim Abdalla Ashur al-Shujayri, who was arrested on Sunday, and his associates are believed to have been behind the kidnap and execution of the aid worker Margaret Hassan in October 2004 and the kidnap of British peace campaigner Norman Kember.

[q url="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4603936.ece"]

A video purporting to show the execution of Mrs Hassan, who has British, Irish and Iraqi nationality, was shown a month after her disappearance. The 59-year-old’s body has never been found.

Mr Kember was seized in Baghdad in November 2006 with three other Christian peacemakers. One man, American Tom Fox, was killed. The Briton, then 74, and two Canadian colleagues were rescued by special forces in March 2006.

Coalition forces captured Shujayri, known as Abu Uthman, on August 11. The US military described him as reportedly being the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader of Baghdad’s eastern Rusafa district.

“He is believed to be the planner behind the kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll,” a statement said.

Ms Carroll, 30, who worked for the Christian Science Monitor in Baghdad, was taken hostage at gunpoint on January 7, 2006. Her interpreter was shot dead. She was released almost three months later.

The US military also said that coalition forces seized a second alleged al-Qaeda operative in a separate operation in the Iraqi capital on August 17.

Ali Nash Jiyad al-Shammari, known as Abu Tiba, is accused of being al-Qaeda’s senior advisor in Baghdad. The military also said that he was previously reported to be the group’s chief in the capital’s western Karkh district during its most active operational period in early 2007.

Shammari is alleged to have approved targets for car and suicide bombings against Iraqi civilians. [/q]

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In the wake of the suicide bomber who yesterday killed 30 people and injured 42 at the home-coming banquet of an ex-Al Quaida prisoner from US military Camp Bucca, it has been revealed that a key Al-Quaida suspect has been arrested today in connection with the abduction of a US journalist, Jill Carroll, in 2006.  The suspect is named by US military as Baghdad-based Salim Abdullah Ashur al-Shujayri, also known as Abu Othman.