3 linked to Syria-based Qaeda leader caught in Iraq

Three people suspected of working with a Syria-based leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq have been arrested in northern Iraq, the US military said on Saturday.

The men were arrested during joint Iraqi and US military raids on Friday and Saturday that targeted Saad Uwayid Ubayd al-Shammari, also know as Abu Khalaf, north of the troubled city of Mosul, a statement said.

"Iraqi and Coalition forces targeted a Syrian-based al-Qaeda in Iraq network operating in Iraq and other AQI network cells," it said.

"The combined force was led to a residence where they captured three of Abu Khalaf's associates."

On Thursday the US Treasury Department targeted Khalaf with an executive order to freeze his assets under US jurisdiction.

"This terrorist is believed to be responsible for facilitating the main pipeline of suicide bombers, as well as the flow of money, weapons, terrorists and other resources from Syria into Iraq," US military said.

Before his position leading the foreign Qaeda network, Khalaf was second in command of the Islamic State of Iraq in Syria, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The group has claimed responsibility for a number of major attacks and kidnap campaigns, according to the department.

A similar operation in Mosul city led to the arrest of a suspected insurgent believed to have ties to senior regional Qaeda leaders and knowledge of the group's activities in the area.

Earlier this month US envoys raised concerns with Damascus about Islamic fighters transiting Syria to enter Iraq.

General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, told Congress last month that the Al-Qaeda in Iraq pipeline through Syria had been "reactivated."

The US military is particularly concerned about the area around Mosul, in the northwest near the Syrian border, which officials have described as the last bastion of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

A week ago the President Barack Obama's administration renewed sanctions against Syria for one year, accusing Damascus of supporting Mideast terrorism and undermining Iraqi stability.