Al-Qaida cell leader in Iraq arrested

U.S. troops have captured Ammar Abu Bara - a cell leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq terror organization.

Ammar Abu Bara, alias Amar Hussein Hasan, was arrested Wednesday in Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, by troops of the Army's 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, a U.S. statement said.

The statement said Abu Bara was taken into custody during a cordon and search operation in a neighborhood in northern Mosul. Abu Bara replaced Abu Talha, former terror cell leader for the Mosul area who was arrested last month, the statement added.

No U.S. or Iraqi soldiers were injured in the operation.

Al-Qaida in Iraq is led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and has claimed responsibility for numerous bombings, kidnap-slaying of foreign diplomats, beheadings of U.S. and other foreign hostages and suicide attacks, the AP reports.