Iraqi groups claims Najaf spy captured

An Iraqi group claims to have taken an intelligence officer captive, saying their action is in response to the attacks on Najaf.

A statement sent with the video was signed by the Brigades for the Defence of the Holy Sites. The video showed only the captive with two of his captors.

The pictures were aired by Aljazeera on Monday, but there was no accompanying audio. Neither Baghdad nor Washington have commented on the possible identity of the captive.

Just hours earlier, an Iraqi national guard commander in Samarra was gunned down along with a senior aide.

Assassination

Lieutenant Colonel Ihsan al-Saji and Captain Saddam Husain were killed on the main highway north of Baghdad as they travelled to the capital, an interior ministry official said.

Al-Saji had "made alot of enemies" following repeated US-led anti-resistance operations in Samarra, most recently on Saturday.

In a flier distributed in Samarra, the Ahwaz branch of the Islamic Secret Army said it carried out the killings and threatened similar attacks against other Iraqi security force personnel.

"We cut him to pieces and scattered the remains on the road," the group said. "Those who continue to work for the occupation forces will experience the same fate."

The attack came hours after a senior US commander warned his troops would not hesitate to launch further operations against resistance members, like Saturday’s joint air and ground assault in which the US military said 50 were killed.

Samarra surrounded

"If we find enemies in Samarra, we will strike, because it’s good for people of Samarra and it’s good for people of Iraq," said Major General John Batiste, commander of the 1st Infantry Division.

In a meeting with Batiste, provincial governor Hamid Homood Shakti asked US troops to reopen a bridge in the city, but the general refused until "terrorists and foreign fighters" leave Samarra.

We have "tens of millions dollars in projects in Samarra, but you won’t get a dime as long as the city is not working hands to hands with the coalition," he said.

Earlier on Monday, a US tank was destroyed by an explosion in al-Sadr city in Baghdad.

A US military spokesman said an explosive charge detonated on the tank, but the Shia al-Mahdi Army fighters said they had hit the tank with a rocket-propelled grenade and set it ablaze.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3B1CD42D-20DC-4D5C-AA24-9A84CB2052E7.htm