Iraq Freed al-Zarqawi Last
Year
Yahoo News/AP
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
December 16, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi security forces caught terror leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi in the Fallujah area last year but released him because they didn't
realize who he was, the deputy interior minister said in an interview broadcast
Friday.
The deputy minister, Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, told the Lebanese Broadcasting
Corp., that Iraqi police "suspected this man" and detained him "along with
other members" of his group.
"Afterward, he was released because we did not know the identity of this
criminal," Kamal told LBC. The station said the remarks were made Wednesday but
were aired Friday.
"He was not armed," Kamal said. "He was like any other citizen who was
suspected. There was a simple interrogation with him and he was released."
Kamal said the incident occurred "about a year ago, approximately." U.S.
forces overran Fallujah in November 2004, ending domination of the city by
insurgents and Islamic extremists, including al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq
group.
Thousands of people were rounded up after the city fell. Most were
interrogated and released.
CNN broadcast a similar report late Thursday, but it could not be confirmed.
But a U.S. official said in Washington that American intelligence believed it
was plausible. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in compliance with
office policy.
There have been several reports of missed opportunities to capture
al-Zarqawi, including an April 28 raid by U.S. forces acting on a tip from
local informants that militants reportedly including the terror leader were
hiding in a hospital in Ramadi.
Al-Qaida in Iraq and Iraqi officials also denied reports last month that
al-Zarqawi was among those killed in a raid and gunfight in the northern city
of Mosul.
Al-Zarqawi, who has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Iraq along
with the kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners, has a $25 million bounty on
his head.
He also drew criticism in his home country of Jordan after his insurgent
group claimed responsibility for the deadly Nov. 9 attacks on hotels in
Amman.
Jordan sentenced al-Zarqawi to death in absentia for planning a terror plot
that led to the 2002 killing of U.S. aid worker Laurence Foley. He has claimed
responsibility for several other plots in Jordan, including a foiled April 2004
chemical attack.
Associated Press writer Katherine Shrader in Washington and Sam Ghattas in
Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.
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