US fury after Baghdad court frees al-Sadr ally linked to killing spree [View all]
Source: The Observer
A senior Hezbollah commander accused of orchestrating the killing of British and US citizens is at the centre of a diplomatic storm after a Baghdad court last week ordered his release.
US government officials have accused Ali Musa Daqduq, a Lebanese citizen, of involvement in a string of attacks, including the killing of five US soldiers on a base in the Iraqi city of Kerbala in 2007, while he was acting as the group's liaison to a shadowy Shia insurgent group, the League of Righteousness.
The group was also behind the kidnapping of five British contractors including Peter Moore – who was freed while his four bodyguards were murdered.
Daqduq, who had been held in US custody since his arrest, was handed over to the Iraqi government last year after the formal withdrawal of US combat troops after a promise from the government of Nouri al-Maliki that he would be tried. The two men Daqduq was arrested with in Basra – Iraqi brothers who led the group – have already been released as part of a British deal to secure the return of Moore and the remains of his guards.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/13/iraq-hezbollah-daqduq-us-reaction
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