Iraqi forces capture Ali Mahmoud Yahya, Emir of the Mujahideen Shura in Mosul

al Qaeda in Iraq's Mujahideen Shura.

Iraqi and Coalition forces continue to rack up senior al Qaeda in Iraq and insurgent leaders. The Kuwaiti News Agency reports “Ali Mahmoud Yahya, [also known as] Abu Huthaifa and works as an Amir of a Shura Council for Mujahideen in Mosul,” has been captured. Also captured was his assistant, "Mohammad Mahmoud... code-named Abu Abdulrahman". Four other terrorists were capture and a weapons cache was discovered in subsequent operations.

The emir of Mosul is a high ranking position in al Qaeda's organization. While this isn't stated, he is likely a regional commander (or general in western terms) and may report directly to al Qaeda in Iraq's central Mujahideen Shura. Just two days ago it was reported that Khalid Mahal, the Emir of Anbar Province, was killed. On September 20th, 25 were killed and over 30 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated in the middle of a Mosul market.

This marks the eighth high value al Qaeda and insurgent leader killed or captured since the beginning of September. Along with Mahal, Omar al-Farouq, who was a senior aide to bin Laden and a former operations chief in Southeast Asia, was killed in Basra earlier in the week. Muntasir Hamoud Ileiwi al-Jubour, a member of Ansar al-Sunnah's military Shura, and an as of yet unnamed military commander of the 1920s Revolution Brigades were captured over the weekend. A second Abu Jaafar al-Liby was killed and Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi was captured earlier this month. Both were members of al Qaeda in Iraq's Mujahideen Shura.