INTEL, OPS UPDATE

BAGHDAD, Oct 12 (KUNA) -- Iraqi Army on Friday captured a key al-Qaeda leader in Muqdadiya district of Diyala province 57 kilometers northeastern Baghdad along with one of his aides and separately four others, including the Mufti of the so-called Islamic state of Iraq.
Brigades belonging to the Army's fifth squadron managed to make the arrest of the leader and his aide on Thursday through a raid, Diyala Operations' Command said in a statement without providing any further details.
Another statement by the Command said that the other raid that resulted in arresting the four suspects, took place inside Shams village south of Baquba. (end) mhg.hb KUNA 121328 Oct 07NNNN

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LONDON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden could hide more easily in a city than a remote tribal region, a former Pakistani intelligence chief said on Tuesday, challenging the notion that the al Qaeda leader is probably holed up in a mountain cave.


Lieutenant-General Asad Durrani, former head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), said news of outsiders' presence travels fast in the tribal areas and it would be hard to keep it secret for years.

"In the countryside or in tribal areas ... it's difficult to hide yourself because there people live ... and operate in a manner in which finding out about unusual presence is very important," Durrani told Reuters in an interview in London.

He said it was true that tribal customs placed great value on showing hospitality and not betraying a guest. "In the tribal code, anyone who seeks your protection has to be defended, if necessary with your life."

However, he added: "I am not sure over a period of four, five or six years that it would be possible even for the tribesmen to keep his presence under wraps."

Such information would have traveled or been divulged, given the incentives, Durrani said in a reference to the $25 million U.S. bounty on bin Laden's head.....



ON THE RUN

In the six years since the September 11 attacks on the United States and subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Western intelligence officials have frequently said they suspect he is hiding somewhere in the inaccessible mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.


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Gen Bergner said the operation targeted a safe house used by a senior al-Qa'eda figure in Iraq, known as Muthanna, who was killed along with seven colleagues.

"Muthanna was a key facilitator of the movement of foreign terrorists once they crossed into Iraq from Syria," he said.

Officials have refused to discuss efforts to track down those named in the files. The number of British terrorists involved has not been disclosed.

Living wills and pledges of martyrdom were also found. "Other documents included a formal pledge from foreign terrorists who were committed to suicide operations," Gen Bergner said.

"They came from countries including Libya, Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Oman, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom."

British special forces, spearheaded by the SAS, are deployed in Iraq to hunt down al-Qa'eda's "foreign legion".

They include MI6 officials, military intelligence and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment.

Websites linked to al-Qa'eda in Iraq have targeted foreign sympathisers, particularly for suicide missions. The anti-terrorist squad has conducted several raids in Britain since 2003, when the first report of a British suicide bomber killing himself in Iraq emerged. SOURCE: