BAGHDAD, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Hamid Juma Faris Jouri al-Saeedi, al-Qaida's No. 2 leader in Iraq, was arrested this week by U.S. and Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location.
The New York Times reported that the high-ranking al-Qaida member behind February's bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra was captured at some point in the last few days while hiding with an Iraqi family somewhere in the region.
With officials naming al-Saeedi as the al-Qaida deputy commander, behind only Abu Ayub al-Masri in terms of power, his arrest likely marks the capture of the group's most senior leader since June.
In June, top al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqaw was killed during a U.S. air strike making al-Saeedi the new leader of the Sunni Islamist organization.
The Times said while Iraqi officials have claimed that al-Qaida forces in Iraq have weakened since al-Zarqaw's death, just last week the Pentagon confirmed that attacks by the group have actually soared.
