REPORT: LAF Intelligence captures second leader of al Qaeda-linked group

       
The Army Intelligence arrested another leader of an al Qaeda-linked militant group in a raid on his hideout in the Bekaa town of Kamed el-Laouz on Wednesday, the Army Command said, weeks after they detained the unit's commander.                       

Jamal Daftardar, a Lebanese citizen, was one of the leading figures in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a group operating in Lebanon which claimed responsibility for a bombing on the Iranian embassy in November which killed at least 23.         

Daftardar is one of the most-wanted individuals on the international level.                

The arrest comes three weeks after security forces captured the group's Saudi leader, Majid bin Muhammad al-Majid. Majid died in custody at a military hospital early in January from kidney failure, Lebanese security sources said.            

"Secret police forces were able to detain the Abdullah Azzam Brigades leader Jamal Daftardar at dawn this morning after raiding his location in a village of the western Bekaa," a military statement said.              

"During the raid, a grenade-wielding gunman identified as Mazen Abou Abbas, was shot and then succumbed to his wounds," the Army Command said.

Abbas was a former Fatah al-Islam prisoner who hails from Kamed el-Laouz.


LBCI/REUTERS


To watch Edmond Sassine's report, please click on the VIDEO above