Iraq says detains No. 2 in Iraqi al Qaeda

BAGHDAD, Sep 3 (Reuters) US and Iraqi forces have arrested the second most senior figure of al Qaeda in Iraq and killed 20 fellow militants, Iraq's national security adviser said today, claiming a major victory over the insurgents.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie named him as Hamid Juma Faris al-Suaidi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, and said he was deputy to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took over the Sunni Islamist group after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi died in a US air strike in June.

''Hamid al-Suaidi led a group that kidnapped people. He ordered bombings and mortar attacks that killed a number of our armed forces and our citizens. Al Qaeda in Iraq is severely wounded,'' Rubaie said.

''After his arrest he gave critical and important information and we ended up killing 11 militants of the second tier of leaders and nine of the lower tier,'' Rubaie said of Suaidi.

Rubaie told a news conference Suaidi was arrested with several followers some days ago in an undisclosed area and was responsible for directing the man blamed for February's shrine bombing in Samarra that sparked much sectarian bloodshed.

''After Zarqawi's death we received intelligence information about Hamid al-Suaidi and his whereabouts,'' Rubaie said.

''Our intelligence operations began to find his location in Salahideen province and information in mid-June showed he moved to the north of Baghdad and worked outside Baquba in the same area that Zarqawi was assassinated in,'' he added.

Despite his rank, Suaidi's name was not widely known. Rubaie did not disclose his nationality. Most fighters are Iraqi, officials say, but Zarqawi was Jordanian and Masri is believed to be an Egyptian, although there is some doubt on his identity.

Describing Suaidi's arrest, Rubaie said: ''He was hiding in a building used by families. He wanted to use children and women as human shields as our forces attempted to capture him.

The February 22 bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra, which US and Iraqi officials blamed on an al Qaeda figure called Haitham al-Badri, unleashed a wave of killings and reprisals between majority Shi'ites and Sunnis that has killed thousands and pushed the country to the verge of civil war.

Al Qaeda itself denied responsibility.

Despite US and Iraqi successes in making arrests, bombings and other attacks on Shi'ite civilians blamed on al Qaeda continue to strike Iraq. An al Qaeda umbrella group urged Sunnis this week to step up attacks against Shi'ites.

REUTERS LL KP1903