Key Leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq Has Been Captured

NPR | By Tom Bullock

Published September 4, 2006 at 6:00 AM EDT

The man believed to be the second in command of al-Qaida in Iraq has been captured. Hamed Farid al-Saeedi is believed to have masterminded countless attacks, including the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samara earlier this year that launched a wave of sectarian violence that has Iraq on the verge of a full-scale civil war.

Iraqi officials say the arrest is a major blow to terrorists in the country.

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Tom Bullock

Tom Bullock decided to trade the khaki clad masses and traffic of Washington DC for Charlotte in 2014. Before joining WFAE, Tom spent 15 years working for NPR. Over that time he served as everything from an intern to senior producer of NPR’s Election Unit. Tom also spent five years as the senior producer of NPR’s Foreign Desk where he produced and reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Haiti, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon among others. Tom is looking forward to finally convincing his young daughter, Charlotte, that her new hometown was not, in fact, named after her.

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