US says killed senior al Qaeda figure in Iraq

Baghdad, Apr 25: The US military said today it had killed asenior al Qaeda in Iraq who it accused of leading a cell whichsent children as young as 12 on suicide car bomb missions.

US forces killed Muhammed Abdullah Abbas al-Issawi, described as asecurity emir for al Qaeda in Iraq in the western Anbar province,during a firefight with insurgents last Friday.

A US military statement said Issawi, also known as Abu Abdal-Sattar, was linked to a recent surge in the use of poisonouschlorine gas in vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), orcar and truck bomb attacks.

''Intelligence reports also indicate that this VBIED cell used 12 to 13-year-old children as VBIED drivers,'' it said.

Major General Michael Barbero, deputy director for regionaloperations in the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, told reporters inWashington last month that insurgents in Iraq had used children in twoseparate suicide attacks in March.

Such reports could not be independently confirmed.

The military statement said Issawi, who had links to Abu Musabal-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq who was killed in a US airstrike in June 2006, was one of two insurgents killed in the firefightin western Iraq. A third was detained.

US forces said suicide vests and weapons including hand grenades were also found.

Volatile Anbar is a stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgencyagainst US-led and Iraqi forces. Militants from Sunni Arab al Qaeda andlocal Sunni tribes are also engaged in a bitter power struggle in Anbar.

Reuters>