BREAKING! Al Qaeda In Iraq Top Leader al Masri Captured in Mosul

Holy Shit! I was JUST blogging about al Masri this morning and the Iraqis are now claiming they, namely the Mosul police, have arrested him in Mosul today! This folks is absolutely HUGE! And he's alive! Now, the U.S. commanders have not verified this but usually these reports are spot on. Here's the excerpt from the breaking news at Breitbart:

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.
Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province. There was no immediate confirmation or comment from U.S. forces on the arrest.
The U.S. military in Baghdad said "we are currently checking with Iraqi authorities to confirm the accuracy of this information."

I'm going to hold my breath just a little on this as it is the Mosul police making this claim as opposed to Iraqi Army but you can imagine the smile on my face right now! What...you got one too? : )

Let's hope this is true and all I can say is...water up the boards, boys!

Iraqi army: Iraqi al-Qaida leader arrested

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.
Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province. There was no immediate confirmation or comment from U.S. forces on the arrest.
The U.S. military in Baghdad said "we are currently checking with Iraqi authorities to confirm the accuracy of this information."
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said that Mosul police "arrested one of al-Qaida's leaders at midnight and during the primary investigations he admitted that he is Abu Hamza Al- Muhajir."
News of the arrest was also reported by Iraqi state television and Arab satellite TV stations.
The state channel, Iraqiya, said that Minister of Interior Jawad al- Bolani would reward Mosul police for the capture.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khalaf told the station by phone that a source close to the al-Qaida leader informed Mosul police that al- Masri would be at a house in the city's Wadi Hajar area at midnight Wednesday.
"The police raided this house and arrested him. During the primary investigation, he confessed that he is Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir, the leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq. Now a broader investigation of him is being conducted," he said to Iraqiya.
If confirmed, the arrest would represent a major blow to al-Qaida in Iraq, which has been on the run for the past year following a shift in alliances by Sunni tribesmen in western Anbar province, and elsewhere, and an influx of thousands of U.S. troops.
The U.S. military considers the organization its number one enemy in Iraq.
"The commander of Ninevah military operations informed me that Iraqi troops captured Abu Hamza al-Muhajir the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq," al-Askari told The Associated Press by telephone.
He did not have any further details nor did he say when the al-Qaida leader was arrested.
Mosul is currently a major battleground for U.S. forces and al-Qaida.
Ninevah governor Duraid Kashmola also said by phone that al-Masri had been arrested.