Al-Qaida in Iraq Officially Denies Capture of Top Commander

By Evan Kohlmann

In a statement issued today, Al-Qaida's "Islamic State in Iraq" has officially denied claims made yesterday by the Iraqi government that it has captured the wounded leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq. The Iraqi government and U.S. military have identified the current leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq as an Egyptian national "Abu Ayyub al-Masri"--however, this has never been acknowledged by Al-Qaida itself, which instead consistently refers to its supreme commander in Iraq as "Abu Hamza al-Muhajir." According to Al-Qaida's latest statement, "it appears that the Maliki Persian government has no options left but to circulate lies through the media... in order to hide its failures and failures in front of the world... After... failing to stop the blows of the mujahideen and their operations, praise be to Allah, then this government claimed that [Iraqi security forces] had wounded the fighting Shaykh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir and killed his aide north of Baghdad." The statement continued, "Allah's enemies know that Shaykh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir... fights under the flag of the Amir al-Mumineen Abu Omar al-Baghdadi--may Allah protect him--within the army of the Islamic State [of Iraq]... The fabrication of such news [about the capture of Abu Hamza] by the [Iraqi] government--the same which was even denied by their American masters--is evidence of their failure and their confusion." Addressing those critics who doubt the growing influence of Al-Qaida's "Islamic State" inside Sunni regions of Iraq, the communique demanded, "where is the media coverage in Mosul, and Al-Anbar, and Diyala, and south of Baghdad?"

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