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Bin
Laden associate killed in Iraq
BAGHDAD,
Iraq, April 13, 2006 14:17
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ABU
UMAR AL KURDI. DATE OF PHOTO UNKNOWN. (OFFICIAL FILE PHOTO).
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Coalition
and Iraqi forces killed a wanted terrorist, Rafid Ibrahim Fattah aka Abu Umar al
Kurdi, during an early morning raid March 27 in the vicinity of Abu Ghraib.
Officials report and confirm that Abu Umar al Kurdi had ties to Jaysh al Islami,
Ansar al Sunnah, Taliban members in Afghanistan, Pakistani-based extremists, and
al Qaeda senior leaders to include Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri.
Over the past six months, the targeted terrorist worked as a Jaysh al Islami
cell leader in Baquba and allegedly was involved in the kidnapping of an Iraqi
woman. Abu Umar al Kurdi traveled extensively throughout Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Iran and Iraq over the past 15 years and met and formed a relationship with al
Qaeda senior leaders in 1999 while in Afghanistan. In the 1980s he formed ties
with the Muslim Brotherhood while in Iran and Pakistan, and then he joined the
jihad in Afghanistan in 1989. Within months he was given the title of an al
Qaeda ambassador and attended military training camps near Jalabad where Osama
bin Laden often visited. In 1991 he returned to the Muslim Brotherhood in
Peshawar and in 1992 moved to Iraq, joining the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan.
Throughout the 1990s until his death, Abu Umar al Kurdi moved between Iraq,
Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan holding various positions to include serving as a
liaison between terrorist networks, as an operations officer responsible for
coordinating the activities of the various terrorist groups, and as a security
chief for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
A detainee who admitted his own affiliation with JAI claimed that Abu Umar al
Kurdi recruited him into the terrorist organization. The detainee claims he
joined in Sept. 2004 when Abu Umar al Kurdi introduced him to the leader of JAI.
The detainee also told officials that Abu Umar al Kurdi kidnapped and murdered a
female hostage several months ago. Officials confirmed the hostage taking and
are currently investigating the alleged murder.
By
MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ
COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER
BAGHDAD, Iraq
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