Iraqi security forces captured Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, head of al-Qaida in Iraq network, in northern Iraqi city Mosul, Iraqi official television reported on Thursday.

  An undated file photo released by the U.S. military of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, alias Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, in Baghdad June 15, 2006.

During an operation conducted by the Iraqi security forces in Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad, the Iraqi troops captured Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the Iraqi state-run television quoted Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman as saying.

Al-Muhajer was announced leader of al-Qaida in Iraq on June 12,2006. He was a senior aide to former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike on June 7, 2006. Since then, U.S. Pentagon sources identified him as one of the prime candidates to assume direction of the Iraqi insurgency.

In this June 15 2006 file photo, a U.S. soldier at a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq stands by a photograph that purports to show Abu Ayyub al-Masri who is the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. The Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday, May 8, 2008 that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq Abu Ayyub al-Masri has been arrested in the northern city of Mosul.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2008)