Press Interpreter

05/27/05 -- The Al-Qaeda organization in Saudi Arabia said that their colleague Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi is "healthy" two days after the announcement that he was injured and taken to a neighboring country for treatment, according to a new press release from the organization on the internet.

The organization explained that "Our sheikh is healthy and is directing the Jihad efforts himself and is following every detail of them until the time this release was prepared."

The release continued on to say that Abu Mus’ab has "full control by the blessing of God, may He be praised and exalted, and through assistants and advisors" indicating that reports concerning the selection of a deputy for Zarqawi are false.

The announcement published on the internet in the name of the al-Qaeda organization in Saudi Arabia confirmed that the organization is thinking of assigning a deputy to Zarqawi. The United States has offered a $25 million reward to anyone who provides information leading to the capture of Zarqawi.

Security Measures

The organization also belittled the wide-ranging security measures announced by the Iraqi government as "Operation Lightening" which involved the deployment of forty thousand Iraqi soldiers throughout the capital Baghdad to track down the insurgents.

In a press release published on the website the organization said that this plan will not deter its members from Jihad in the cause of God.

On Thursday the Iraqi Minister of Defense, Sa’dun Al-Dulaymi, said that the security operation intends to impose a tight siege around Baghdad and to arrest the insurgents.

The plan, which was announced by the Iraqi Minister of Defense, requires the division of the Al-Rasafah area east of Baghdad into 15 sections, and the Al-Kurkh area (west) also into 15 sections, and setting up 645 fixed checkpoints as well as a number of mobile barricades.

A helicopter Downed

In other developments, the American and Iraqi forces in Ba’qubah have started raids in the area which witnessed the killing of two American soldiers today resulting from small arms fire aimed at the helicopter in which they were riding.

A source in the Iraqi police force said that 15 suspected residents of the area were arrested, and that ammunition, weapons, and ready to use handmade explosives were seized, and that the operation is still ongoing.

The Iraqi police source in Bahuz explained that a rocket was fired at two helicopters which were coming to support an American patrol, resulting in one of the helicopters going down. However, the American Army said that the two helicopters were struck by small arms fire resulting in the death of two of their soldiers.

Sporadic Attacks

In the field, nearly a thousand American and Iraqi solders continued their military operations in the area of Hudaythah northwest of Baghdad pursuing armed insurgents connected to the al-Qaeda organization who are believed to have moved to this area after recent operations which were aimed at them recently in the border areas. Eleven insurgents and one American solider were killed in an incident since the operation began on Wednesday.

The press quoted a western diplomatic source confirming that the American forces’ command has suggested to Washington setting up a ten-kilometer buffer zone on the Iraq-Syria border. This comes in “the scope of a serious search in the American camp for ways to deal with Syria.�

Five Iraqis have died in sporadic attacks in Iraq, and the Iraqi police in Mosul have confirmed that one policeman was killed and four others injured when a charge exploded followed by a machine gun attack targeting a police patrol.

In the city of Tikrit three Iraqis were killed and 18 others injured including six policemen when a bomb exploded targeting an Iraqi police station in the city.

In another attack two Iraqi soldiers were injured by an insurgent attack targeting an Iraqi army patrol near the Tigris north of the capital, in which insurgents were able to injure the Biji Police Commander, Sa’d Nafus, and his aid when they attacked the Police Directorate headquarters.

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Photo Caption 1: The Iraqi Army launches campaigns of arrests in the location in which the American helicopter went down (AFP)

Go to Photo 1: http://www.aljazeera.net/mritems/images/2005/5/27/1_542534_1_34.jpg

Photo Caption 2: The most recent photograph of Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi (AFP)

Go to Photo 2: http://www.aljazeera.net/mritems/images/2005/5/24/1_542073_1_23.jpg

Photo Caption 3: The American army surrounds the area in which the helicopter went down (AFP)

Go to Photo 3: http://www.aljazeera.net/mritems/images/2005/5/27/1_542493_1_23.jpg

Source: Agencies

--Translated by Timothy Gregory

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http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/60463430-0849-44C1-9E41-0F7678A93617