Photo exclusive to Asharq Al-Awsat.
Irbil, Asharq Al-Awsat- A Saudi member of al Qaeda, captured in northern Iraq, was handed over to the U.S Army, according to a minister in the Kurdistan regional government.
Said Saad Said al Qarni, also known as Abu Qatiba, a former student of Imam Mohammed bin Saud in Riyadh, was detained by the Kurdish police last summer in Mosul , after failing to blow up the Kurdish Democratic Party headquarters in the city.
Abdul Karim Sinjari, minister of state for the interior in the regional government, told Asharq al Awsat that the 24-year’s journey began in Jeddah where he met a man known as Abu Abada, before boarding a flight together to Damascus, with $2000 in his possession.
In Syria, al Qarni stayed at a number of safe houses before illegally crossing the border into Iraq and traveling to al Qaim. According to the investigation, al Qarni met an Iraqi called Abu Mohammed and stayed at his home with four other terrorists, including a Saudi called Abu Azzam.
In Falluja, the former student asked to take part in a suicide attack against the coalition forces. However, he was chosen to carry out an attack in Iraqi Kurdistan and entered northern Iraq with forged documents. He was later arrested in Mosul.
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities. Launched in London in 1978, Asharq Al-Awsat has established itself as the decisive publication on pan-Arab and international affairs, offering its readers in-depth analysis and exclusive editorials, as well as the most comprehensive coverage of the entire Arab world.
Follow Me:
