Iraq says Qaeda 'minister' caught west of Baghdad

Iraqi security forces have captured an Al-Qaeda commander in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, provincial police chief Brigadier General Hadi Arzayish told AFP on Monday. "On Sunday, we arrested Abdel Kader al-Fahdawi, one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda in Anbar who carried the title of 'electricity minister' in the Islamic State of Iraq," Arzayish said. He said Fahdawi, 32, was picked up on the outskirts of Sufiya, not far from the provincial capital Ramadi. "He was alone and dressed as an old man to try to avoid being spotted," the police chief said. "We hold him responsible for a number of murder attempts and other crimes in Ramadi." Al-Qaeda established its Islamic State of Iraq in October 2006 at the height of the sectarian bloodshed that gripped the country in the wake of the US-led invasion of 2003. The recruitment of Sunni Arab tribesmen and former insurgents to form an anti-Qaeda militia has since greatly reduced the jihadists' hold on Anbar province and most other areas of Iraq.