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Iraqi official says suspect in mosque attack captured

An Iraqi soldier stands guard Friday on the broken wall of a Shiite Mosque damaged by insurgents, outside Samarra, Iraq. An Iraqi general said Friday a ringleader in the attack was captured in a raid. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
John Johnson Jr. Los Angeles Times
An Iraqi soldier stands guard Friday on the broken wall of a Shiite Mosque damaged by insurgents, outside Samarra, Iraq. An Iraqi general said Friday a ringleader in the attack was captured in a raid. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

SAMARRA, Iraq – Iraqi military officials said Friday that a continuing offensive targeting insurgents in the hard-pan desert northeast of here has resulted in the capture of additional weapons and a man who may have been among those responsible for the recent bombing of a venerated Shiite shrine in Samarra.

Iraqi military and political leaders, speaking at a forward base of operations along the Tigris River 80 miles northeast of Baghdad, said they were checking pictures and other documents to determine if they had captured one of those they believe planned the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra and the killing of an Arabic TV journalist.

“One ringleader is in custody,” said Iraqi General Abdul Jabbar. “He is a main person in all the attacks that took place.”

The Golden Mosque, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest places, was stormed on Feb. 22 by about 20 men who placed 475 pounds of explosives throughout the building and set them off by remote control. A handful of suspects have previously been arrested, but authorities have not identified them. The bombing led to scores of retaliatory attacks on Sunni holy places and a series of tit-for-tat serial executions by Sunnis and Shiites, leading the country to the precipice of civil war.

On Thursday, in what U.S. military officials called the largest airborne operation since shortly after the start of the U.S.-led war in 2003, some 1,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops swooped into the desert area in 50 helicopters, and by late Friday, officials said they had detained more than 50 people and uncovered up to eight weapons caches, most buried in fields, including a soccer field near Balad. There, searchers said they turned up a Soviet anti-aircraft gun, four rocket propelled grenade launchers, 100 pounds of explosives and hand grenades.

American military officials said that the offensive, which they have named Operation Swarmer, is serving as a show of force in an area teeming with insurgents and is a symbol of the growing maturity of Iraqi fighting forces.