Key al Qaeda operative captured in Iraq, Bush says

10.45am

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas - An al Qaeda operative with close ties to the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks was captured last week in Iraq, President George W. Bush said today.

Bush said Hassan Ghul was helping al Qaeda step up attacks by insurgents against US troops in Iraq. Al Qaeda members are believed to have entered Iraq after the war last year that toppled President Saddam Hussein.

Bush said Ghul "reported directly" to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is suspected of coordinating the September 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 3000 people and who was captured in Pakistan in March. He is now in US custody.

"He (Ghul) was moving money and messages around South Asia and the Middle East. He's a part of this network of haters that we're dismantling," Bush said during a speech in Little Rock.

"He was captured in Iraq where he was helping al Qaeda to put pressure on our troops. There's one less enemy we need to worry about with the capture of Hassan Ghul," Bush said.

The Bush administration says there was a link between al Qaeda and Saddam although Bush has said there was no evidence that Saddam was involved in the September 11 attacks.

- REUTERS