World

Qaeda In Iraq Leader Threatened

October 1, 2006 / 8:40 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Security forces are close to capturing or killing the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, a senior Iraqi official said Sunday, showing a captured video of the terror chief teaching followers how to build a car bomb.

The video, displayed to journalists, showed al-Masri — his face exposed — going through what appeared to be a storage bunker, pointing out different elements of a car bomb in what National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie called an instructional CD.

"My message to Iraqis in Ramadan, God willing, is that in a very short time, we will bring you the good news of Abu Ayyub al-Masri either killed or handcuffed to be brought before the Iraqi justice system," al-Rubaie told the press conference.

"My message to Abu Ayyub al-Masri is that we are closer to you than you can imagine — your days are numbered and you will face your fate very soon," al-Rubaie said.

Al-Rubaie did not elaborate on why he believed security forces were close to catching al-Masri, who was named as leader of Iraq's most feared terror group after the death of his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a June airstrike by U.S. forces. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In other developments:

Among those killed in violence Sunday were three Iraqi civilians killed by a car bomb targeting a U.S. military patrol in Baghdad. A woman and a girl died in a crossfire during a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid on a suspected militia members home, Iraqi security officials said.

Also, eight bodies were found in and around Baghdad and to the south. Among the dead were five men and a girl, whose blindfolded and bullet-ridded bodies were pulled out of Tigris River 25 miles south of the capital, police said.

President Bush isn't letting the publicity around Bob Woodward's new book, "State of Denial," derail his push to garner support for the Iraq War, nor is he commenting on the book's claims that Laura Bush supported efforts to oust Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In Mike Wallace's interview with Woodward, to be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. ET/PT, the reporter also claims that Henry Kissinger is among those advising Mr. Bush.

In a flurry of activity before their departure early Saturday morning, the Senate approved $448 billion in funding for the Pentagon, including $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The U.S. military said Sunday that more than 20 terror suspects believed linked to al Qaeda in Iraq had been killed or captured in raids the past week in Baghdad, and the nearby cities of Baqouba, Ramadi and Samarra.

Al-Rubaie's comments came a day after a surprise, unprecedented curfew in the Iraqi capital prompted by the arrest of an al Qaeda suspect who the U.S. military said was "in the final stages" of carrying out a string of bombings in Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone, the center of government.

The arrest sparked political tensions because the suspect, seized Friday night, was the bodyguard of a top Sunni Arab politician, Adnan Al-Dulaimi, a member of the Iraqi Accordance Front — the largest Sunni coalition in the 275-member parliament, where it holds 44 seats.

Baha el-Deen al-Araji, a Shiite lawmaker, accused Sunni politicians of having "direct and indirect links to Saddamists, Takfiris (Sunni radicals) and terrorists." The U.S. military said al-Dulaimi was not a target of the raid that captured his bodyguard.

Al-Rubaie sought to calm any Suuni-Shiite tensions after the arrest, asking politicians "not to take advantage of security operations to settle old political scores. ... They should not listen to rumors that aim at destroying the national unity."

With the end of the curfew Sunday morning, new violence killed at least 17 people in Baghdad and elsewhere, and eight bodies were found, apparently the latest victims of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite death squads.

The al-Masri video was found in a raid a few days ago in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad and copies of it have been distributed to al Qaeda followers, al-Rubaie said.

"He is copying this video for distribution to the killers and criminals to spread murder and sabotage among Iraqis," al-Rubaie said.

It was the first time al-Masri — also known by the pseudonym Abu Hamza al-Muhajer — has appeared showing his face in a video, though U.S. and Iraqi military officials have shown photos of him.

In the video, al-Masri, wearing a white T-shirt, is seen talking to the camera as he points out tin boxes and coils of wire and describes how to put together a vehicle bomb. At one point, a tanker truck is visible, and the feet of several other people are seen. About two minutes of the video was shown at the press conference, and al-Rubaie did not say how long the entire CD was.

"We prepare this vehicle as we did with other vehicles in the past," al-Masri says at one point. The militant, believed to be Egyptian-born, had short hair, wore glasses and a moustache but no beard.

"Here we use a normal detonator, without using electrical current," al-Masri said at one point. "We stick a P6 detonator so that it will not require huge quantity (or explosives) ... and then we put it in a tanker.

Al-Rubaie said the government was releasing the footage "let Iraqis know who is their No. 1 enemy ...recognize him easily and make it hard for him to hide."

Al-Masri has released two audiotapes since being named head of al Qaeda in Iraq. In the latest, posted on the Internet on Sept. 28, he called for nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war and urged insurgents to kidnap Westerners so they could be traded for a blind Egyptian sheik who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.