The US military announced Thursday they have arrested a senior al-Qaida member in Iraq who is suspected of kidnapping and killing Egyptian envoy Ihab al-Sharif.

Khamis Farhan Khalaf Abd al-Fahdawi, also known as Abu Seba, was arrested in Iraq's restive Ramadi city during a military operation last Saturday, the US military said in a statement.

"Seba served as a senior lieutenant of al-Qaida in Iraq, and is suspected in attacks against diplomats of Bahrain, Pakistan and the recent murder of Egyptian envoy, Ihab Salah al Din Ahmad al-Sharif," the statement said.

Earlier in the week, the military announced the capture of another al-Qaida lieutenant, Abdullah Ibrahim Mohammed Hassan al-Shadad, also known as Abu Abdul Aziz.

Abu Abdul Aziz was identified as a top aide of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida wing in Iraq and the most wanted man in the violence-plagued country.

Iraq's al-Qaida wing claimed on July 7 that it had executed Sharif, five days after kidnapping him near the Egyptian consulate in al-Rabie Street in western Baghdad, but it provided no evidence of the killing.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2005)