Iraq says captured Syrian suicide bomber, close to Qaida leader

BAGHDAD, May 2 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi police chief said Saturday that a suicide bomber captured Friday near a Shiite mosque in the northern city of Kirkuk is a Syrian and close to the head of the al-Qaida in Iraq.

"The suicide bomber who failed to blew himself up at a Shiite mosque in Kirkuk is a Syrian national, his name is Ammar Afif Hamada," said Maj. Gen. Abdul -Rahman, the city police chief, told Xinhua.

Hamada is close to Abu Omer al-Baghdadi, head of self-styled Islamic State of Iraq, who was captured by Iraqi security forced last week in Baghdad, Hamada said without providing further details about the ongoing interrogation of Hamada.

On Friday, the Iraqi police said that it captured a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt as he entered a prayer service at a Shiite mosque in Kirkuk, but he was wrestled to the ground before he blew himself among worshippers.

Two of the mosque's guards were injured when the attacker opened fire from his pistol during his attempt to break through the crowded mosque, they said.
China View

The Glorious Foreign Resistance