Qaeda militant said extradited by Turkey to U.S.

DUBAI, May 24 (Reuters) A senior al Qaeda militant once earmarked by the group to lead its wing in Iraq was arrested by Turkey about 18 months ago and was extradited to the United States, an al Qaeda leader said in remarks aired today.

US officials said in April that the militant, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, was an al Qaeda chief who oversaw assassination plots against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and commanded al Qaeda operations against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

They said then that after months in CIA custody he had been transferred recently to the US military prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in southeastern Cuba, but they did not refer to custody in Turkey.

''The (Qaeda) permission for him to travel came about a year and half ago (but) he was arrested in Turkey and the agent government there handed him over to the Americans,'' Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said in remarks broadcast by Al Jazeera television.

Jazeera was airing parts of an interview conducted by al Qaeda's media arm al-Sahab with Abu al-Yazid, who it said was the newly appointed leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

A Pentagon spokesman said Iraqi intended to ''manage al Qaeda affairs'' in Iraq when he was detained. A CIA spokesman called him a ''veteran jihadist''.

Abu al-Yazid accused Ankara of trying to please Washington to gain its backing for Turkey's drive to join the European Union.

Iraqi was ''eager to fight the Americans in his homeland'', said Abu al-Yazid without giving the exact dates of the arrest or the extradition of the militant.

In June 2006, al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. and Iraqi military raid and was replaced by Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.

A US government summary said he was ''known and trusted'' by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Iraqi sat on al Qaeda's now-defunct Shura leadership council before the Sept. 11 attacks and had most recently operated from bases in Pakistan's tribal regions, according to US officials.

When details of his detention emerged in April, human rights advocates said his capture and secret detention raised concerns about US and international law.

With Iraqi, the Pentagon is now holding 15 men it considers ''high-value detainees'' -- a classification that indicates US officials believe the capture had a significant effect on al Qaeda operations and the prisoner is capable of providing high-quality intelligence.

Reuters SLD DB2116