Bin Laden's Envoy in Iraq Captured

US Forces have captured a leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq they say was an envoy to central al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Khaled al-Mashhadani was captured on July 4th in Mosul, and is believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the organization which has been at the forefront of the Baghdad insurgency.

According to officials, interrogation of al-Mashhadani has revealed a high level of involvement from a central command in the day-to-day operations of al-Qaeda in Iraq, despite efforts to make the group appear homegrown. In fact, al-Mashhadani has revealed that the Islamic State of Iraq, thought to be another major terrorist group in the country, was a front for al-Qaeda, and its purported leader a fictional character portrayed by an actor. (More Mahmoud Mashhadani stories.)