Two Key Al-Qaeda Terrorists Captured

(Baghdad) Two senior members of al-Qaeda were captured on September 24, according to a U.S. military statement released today.

From Reuters:

U.S. forces in Iraq said on Saturday that they were holding a man suspected of acting as a barber to senior al Qaeda militants and helping them change their appearance to evade capture.

The man, named as Walid Muhammad Farhan Juwar al-Zubaydi -- "aka 'The Barber'", the U.S. military statement said -- was arrested in Baghdad on Sept. 24, the day before U.S. troops caught up with and killed a militant they described as the most senior al Qaeda leader in the capital, Abu Azzam.

"'The Barber's' duties included altering senior al Qaeda in Iraq members' appearances by dying hair colour, altering hairstyles and changing facial hair in their efforts to evade capture," the military said in the statement.

Also detained on Sept. 24 was Ibrahim Muhammad Subhi Khayri al-Rihawi, the military said, naming him also as Abu Khalil and calling him a "close associate" of Abu Azzam.

Azzam, second in command to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a raid in September.