Top Stories

BAGHDAD (CBS News) ― Iraqi forces have arrested the second most senior operative in al Qaeda in Iraq, and the group now suffers from a "serious leadership crisis," the national security adviser said Sunday.

Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was arrested a few days ago, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie said, adding that his arrest also led to the capture or death of 11 other top al Qaeda in Iraq figures and nine lower-level members.

He was the second most important al Qaeda in Iraq leader after Abu Ayyub al-Masri, al-Rubaie said. Al-Masri succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad on June 7.

"We believe that al Qaeda in Iraq suffers from a serious leadership crisis. Our troops have dealt fatal and painful blows to this organization," the security adviser said.

Al-Saeedi was "directly responsible" for the person who carried out the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February, al-Rubaie added. The bombing inflamed tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and triggered reprisal attacks that continue still.

"Al-Saeedi carried out al Qaeda's policies in Iraq and the orders of the slain al-Zarqawi to incite sectarian violence in the country, through attempting to start a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis — but their wishes did not materialize," al-Rubaie added.

After his arrest, al-Saeedi gave up information that led to the arrest or death of 11 top al Qaeda in Iraq figures and nine lower-level members, he added. He would not reveal the identities of the others, or where al-Saeedi was captured, for security reasons.

After al-Zarqawi was killed, authorities obtained information about al-Saeedi indicating he had been operating in Salahuddin province, al-Rubaie said. He later moved south to northern Baghdad and had been operating outside Baqouba, the same area where al-Zarqawi was killed.

Al-Saeedi had been hiding in a residential building, the security adviser said. "He wanted to use children and women as human shields during the arrest, which is why the operation was based on a very precise military plan to preserve the lives of women and children in the building," al-Rubaie said, adding that there were no casualties during the arrest.

"Hamed al-Saeedi supervised terrorist groups that kidnapped people for ransom, and killed policemen after they received their salaries in order to finance terrorist operations," the security adviser said. "He used to order terrorist operations using mortars and roadside bombs, which led to the killing of several troops and innocent civilians."

He said al-Saeedi also supervised the creation of death squads and ordered assassinations, bombings, kidnappings and attacks on Iraqi police and army checkpoints.

"The operations were brutal and merciless," he said.

Al-Saeedi's capture "will affect al Qaeda in Iraq and its operations against our people, especially those aimed at inciting sectarian strife," al-Rubaie said.

In other developments:

• Two U.S. soldiers were killed in eastern Baghdad Sunday morning when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, the U.S. military command said. The names of the soldiers and of their units was being withheld while military officials contact their families. More than 2,600 American troops have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003, according to a tally by The Associated Press. At least 2,100 of those were killed by hostile action.

• An Army investigator has recommended that four soldiers accused of murder in an Iraqi raid face the death penalty. Lt. Col. James P. Daniel Jr. made the recommendation in report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press. Daniel found several aggravating factors that warrant a sentence of death in the case of four soldiers accused of killing three men during a May raid in Iraq.

• Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri issued a new videotape Saturday along with a man identified as an American member of the terror network, inviting Americans to convert to Islam. The 41-minute video, posted on an Islamic militant Web site, had footage of al-Zawahri and a man the video identified as Adam Yehiye Gadahn, who has appeared in past al Qaeda videos with the nom de guerre of Azzam al-Amriki.

• Iraq's government has formally taken over the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, site of an abuse scandal by U.S. soldiers, the U.S. military said Saturday. Coalition forces transferred operations of the prison to the Iraqi Justice Ministry on Friday, said a military spokesman for detainee operations.

• Sectarian violence is spreading in Iraq and the security problems have become more complex than at any time since the U.S. invasion in 2003, a Pentagon report said Friday. In a notably gloomy report to Congress, the Pentagon reported that illegal militias have become more entrenched, especially in Baghdad neighborhoods where they are seen as providers of both security and basic social services.

• Police found the tortured and blindfolded bodies of 13 Pakistani and Indian pilgrims and their Iraqi driver south of Baghdad Saturday. Attacks across the rest of Iraq left at least nine people dead.

• A barrage of coordinated bomb and rocket attacks on eastern Baghdad neighborhoods killed at least 47 people and wounded more than 200 within half an hour on Thursday evening, police and hospital officials said.

• President George W. Bush said Thursday the war against Islamic militants was like last century's fight against Nazis and communists and that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would lead to its conquest by America's worst enemies.After al-Zarqawi was killed, authorities obtained information about al-Saeedi indicating he had been operating in Salahuddin province, al-Rubaie said. He later moved south to northern Baghdad and had been operating outside Baqouba, the same area where al-Zarqawi was killed.

Al-Saeedi had been hiding in a residential building, the security adviser said. "He wanted to use children and women as human shields during the arrest, which is why the operation was based on a very precise military plan to preserve the lives of women and children in the building," al-Rubaie said, adding that there were no casualties during the arrest.

"Hamed al-Saeedi supervised terrorist groups that kidnapped people for ransom, and killed policemen after they received their salaries in order to finance terrorist operations," the security adviser said. "He used to order terrorist operations using mortars and roadside bombs, which led to the killing of several troops and innocent civilians."

He said al-Saeedi also supervised the creation of death squads and ordered assassinations, bombings, kidnappings and attacks on Iraqi police and army checkpoints.

"The operations were brutal and merciless," he said.

Al-Saeedi's capture "will affect al Qaeda in Iraq and its operations against our people, especially those aimed at inciting sectarian strife," al-Rubaie said.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)