Iraqi accused of hundreds of beheadings arrested

BAGHDAD, May 30 (Reuters) Iraqi security forces have arrested a suspected ''terrorist'' accused of beheading hundreds of people, the prime minister's office said today.

''The anti-terrorism unit arrested the terrorist Ahmed Hussein Dabash Samer al-Battawi yesterday the Firdos district in the capital Baghdad,'' the statement said.

Battawi confessed after he was arrested that he had ''chopped off the heads of hundreds of innocent Iraqis'' in Baghdad and other parts of the country, said the statement.

It was not possible to verify the statement independently.

Insurgents are waging a bloody campaign of bombings, shootings and beheadings aimed at toppling the US-backed government.

Many of Battawi's beheadings took place in the northwest Hurriya district of the capital, the statement said.

It said he confessed during an interrogation to possessing a list of civilian targets.

REUTERS CH KP2042