US military catches top Zarqawi aide in Iraq

BAGHDAD - The US military announced on Thursday it had caught a top Al Qaeda linked operative who was the key suspect in the kidnapping of Italian journalist Guiliana Sgrena last year.

The military said a massive manhunt by Iraqi and US forces led to the arrest last month of Muhammed Hila Hammad Ubaydi, also known as Abu Ayman, a former aide to the intelligence chief under Saddam Hussein.

It said he had “strong ties” to Al Qaeda’s Iraq frontman, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, and was the leader of the Secret Islamic Army, a militant outfit operating in the Babel province south of Baghdad.

He was caught on March 7 in Al Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad, but his arrest was not immediately announced pending a DNA test, which ”confirmed this is Abu Ayman,” the military said. Read on...