Al Qaeda Leaders Captured in Mosul

CENTCOM reports that the top al Qaeda leaders in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul were captured on September 5:

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Multi-National forces, acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from local citizens, raided a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist location in southwest Mosul, Sept. 5, capturing the top al-Qaida leaders in the city.

Captured during the raid was Taha Ibrahim Yasin Becher, (aka Abu Fatima), the al-Qaida in Iraq’s Emir of Mosul, and Hamed Sa’eed Ismael Mustafa, (aka Abu Shahed), the organization’s West Mosul Emir.

Abu Fatima and Abu Shahed were in a meeting at the time of their capture.

Abu Fatima supervised and directed the day-to-day operations of the organization and was responsible for numerous attacks against Iraqi security and Coalition forces.

Abu Shahed was responsible for organizing al-Qaeda activities in western Mosul. He was responsible for attacks conducted in the area and also participated in attacks involving small arms and other weapons directed against Iraqi security and Coalition forces. As the leader of one of Mosul’s territories he was in line to succeed Abu Fatima in the event of his death or capture.

Abu Fatima was probably still undergoing on-the-job training:

Abu Fatima had recently taken over the role of Emir after Abu Talha was captured in June and Abu Zubayr, who replaced Talha, was killed in mid-August. Abu Fatima had only held the position for 12 days when he was captured.

I'm reprinting this story on the off chance that our loyal, unbiased, non-partisan mainstream media completely ignores it.