BAGHDAD, Jan 24 (AFP) - Iraq announced Monday the arrest of two lieutenants of Islamic extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of whom was said to be plotting election day attacks and was implicated in the 2003 bombing of the UN Baghdad headquarters.
"Security forces in Iraq captured the most lethal of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's lieutenants, Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, in a raid in Baghdad January 15," the government said in a statement.
"Abu Omar al-Kurdi has claimed responsibility for about 32 vehicle-born improvised explosive device attacks that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis," it said.
The statement from Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's office said Kurdi was responsible for the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people including UN representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
"Abu Omar al-Kurdi confessed to building approximately 75 percent of the car bombs used in attacks in Baghdad since March 2003," the statement said, quoting government spokesman Thaer al-Naqib.
Among the other attacks he admitted planning are the deadly bombing against the Jordanian embassy and the assassination of Shiite leader Mohammed Baker al-Hakim in August 2003, as well as a devastating attack on an Italian military base in the southern town of Nasiriyah three months later.
Kurdi was also planning attacks on polling stations in Baghdad for the January 30 general elections, the statement said.
"Zarqawi allegedly instructed Abu Omar al-Kurdi to bomb election sites to instill fear in the population so Iraqis would not vote," the statement quoted Naqib as saying.
A second man identified as Hassan Hamad Abdullah Mohsen al-Duleimi who was in charge of "propaganda" for Zarqawi, was arrested on January 14.
The arrests marked the latest fruit of a joint US and Iraqi campaign to round up Zarqawi supporters in Iraq. The crackdown comes as the Al-Qaeda frontman in Iraq has intensified his propaganda campaign, declaring all-out war on Iraq's January 30 election.
A top lieutenant for the Zarqawi-linked Abu Talha cell in Mosul, Aziz Sadun Ahmed Hamduni, had been detained on December 22, bringing to three the number of arrests of top leaders from the militant group in Mosul.
"These terrorists are doing all they can to stop upcoming elections," Lessel said.
Iraq's government had already announced on January 8th the arrest of Hamduni, also known as Abu Ahmed. It said he served as deputy to Zarqawi's commander in Mosul, known as Abu Talha, and led operations in the flashpoint city when his boss was absent.
The crackdown on Zarqawi-allied fighters came after a suicide bomber penetrated a United States military base in Mosul last month and killed 22 people, 18 of them Americans, in the deadliest single attack on United States forces in Iraq.
The Iraqi government had also announced the arrest of two other suspected Abu Talha leaders in late December.
Fadil Hussein Ahmed al-Kurdi, a 26-year-old Kurd, and two other suspects were caught in a raid by US-led forces, the government said on December 30, without specifying when the arrest took place.
It said Kurdi, also known as Abu Ubaida al-Kurdi or simply Ridha, coordinated the movement of fighters in and out of Iraq.
Ridha is the brother of Omar Baziyani, also a suspected Zarqawi partisan who was captured in May by United States-led forces in Baghdad, it added.
The government announced on December 28 the capture of Abu Marwan, a "key leader" of the Zarqawi network in Mosul on December 23.

01/24/2005 14:20 GMT - AFP