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Muharib Abdul-Latif al-Jubouri. Click to view. |
Al Masri is alive, Baghdadi’s status in dispute, three other HVTs killed during Opertaion Rat Trap
The past week saw a flurry of claims from the Iraqi Interior Ministry and senior Iraqi politicians concerning the death of al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al Masri and Islamic State in Iraq leader Abu Omar al Baghdadi. The U.S. military has refused to verify either claim, while al Qaeda and its Islamic State of Iraq issued denials. Al Masri has been confirmed to be alive, and issued a audiotape to prove it.
Multinational Forces Iraq has confirmed 3 al Qaeda leaders were killed during Operation Rat Trap. Muharib Abdul Latif, al Qaeda’s information minister, as well as Sabah Hilal al-Shihawi, (also known as Sabah al-Alwani and Abu Nuri) and Abu Ammar al-Masri were killed during the six day operation aimed at al Qaeda’s network in central Iraq. “Sabah Hilal al-Shihawi was reportedly the religious advisor for Muharib Abdul Latif,” and Abu Ammar al-Masri was an operative that was “facilitating insurgent activity and infrastructure support for al Qaeda in Iraq.”
“As a result of these operations, 29 targets specifically were focused in about 72 hours. Out of that, 95 enemy personnel were detained and 15 were killed.” noted Major General William Caldwell, the spokesman for Multinational Forces Iraq. “In these areas [in central Iraq] there have been multiple targets that we hit, but between these eight different identified locations that occurred, there was a total of 29 different operations. And again, this was to go after al Qaeda in Iraq specifically, targeting them during that time period.’
Maj Gen Caldwell as explains the confusion over the fighting in al-Nibayi, near Taji in Salahadin province, where Iraqi sources believed al Masri was killed. He confirmed, without explicitly stating it, that Coalition forces worked with the Anbar Salvation Council in the battle against al Qaeda forces in the region. Earlier this week, the Anbar Salvation Council claimed they killed al Masri in the fighting near Taji and noted the bodies of several al Qaeda operatives were left at the scene of the fighting.
“The only body that we took off the site was Muharib’s body,” Maj Gen Caldwell . “The others were left on site. We brought his body off, obviously, because it was assessed that he in fact could have been Muharib. We could not, obviously, make positive identification on the target location. He was brought back. DNA testing was conducted, along with photo identification, and the determination was made just yesterday that that’s in fact who we had killed on the target set early that morning.”
Maj Gen Caldwell also alludes to the involvement of Anbar Salvation Council and the Awakening when asked about “the level of local support for this operation in general and for the capture of Muharib in specific.”
“What I can tell you, in terms of these targeted operations, most of these are a result of information that we glean off target-site sets that we’ve gone in and do the sensitive-site exploitation, which will lead us to another one,” said Maj Gen Caldwell. “Separate and distinct, obviously, the fight against al Qaeda down in Al Anbar province continues there with the tribal elements coming together and taking on al Qaeda down there themselves in the group called the Awakening and the operations that they conduct down there.”
Maj Gen Caldwell also deftly sidestepped a direct question about the Anbar Salvation Council’s direct involvement in the fighting in al-Nibayi near Taji.
The confusion over the death of Abu Omar al Baghdadi appears to be related to the transport of the body of Muharib Abdul Latif back to to his tribe, the Jubouri, in Baghdad. Iraqi Security Forces intercepted Latif at a checkpoint and identified him as al Baghdadi.
Iraqi Security Forces believe Muharib Abdullah al-Jubouri (or Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri, as he is part of the al-Jubouri tribe) is indeed Abu Omar al Baghdadi. Iraq expert Nibras Kazimi has identified al Baghdadi as Khalid Khalil Ibrahim al-Mashhadani. Maj Gen Caldwell stated “we’re not really sure who [Baghdadi] is. There’s a lot of discussion about a person called al-Baghdadi, but we actually have no knowledge who that might be.” My intelligence sources disagree, and state they know the identity of Baghdadi.
1 Comment
What are the nationalities of all these characters?