Update on Zarqawi arrest story

The Command Post is reporting that the Zarqawi arrest story may be false. The story referenced was on a Russian website, not the Arabic one that I referenced from Lexis/Nexis, but the basic details appear to be the same. Iraqi police and Americans arrested Zarqawi in western Iraq, near the Syrian border, and a blood sample was sent to Baghdad for DNA testing. However, Command Post states that the story is being refuted by another story on a different Russian website. That website has some details that match the Arabic website, so it may be the source of both stories.

UPDATE: The Russian website that claims the story was refuted stated that "representatives of the American servicemen and Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country reported" that the story was false.

Agence France Presse reported on Tuesday, July 27, that "A follower of alleged Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi was arrested in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, along with a suspected local kidnapping ring, the US military said Tuesday.

The suspect was arrested on Monday night, Colonel Lloyd Miles of the 25th Infantry Division told reporters during a press conference at the US military base at Kirkuk's airport.

He provided no further details about the detainee."

Maybe the Zarqawi arrest story had its genesis in this "real" story? No one seems to be reporting anything about it today.

UPDATE2: THe Xinhua General News Service is reporting today, from Kuwait City:

A man said to be Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, whose Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in Iraq, was captured during a joint operation by coalition forces and Iraqi police, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported Friday.

The Politics newspaper quoted a senior Iraqi police official as saying that the US and Iraqi investigators are trying to identify the captive, who was seized at the border of Iraq and Syria, and has sent his DNA sample for testing.

Zarqawi, the No. 3 person of the al Qaida terrorist network, is the most wanted suspect in Iraq and has a US bounty of 25 million US dollars on his head.

The captive said his group operates mainly in west Iraq and a small faction of the group scatters around Baghdad and southern Iraq. He also revealed the hideouts of some members and ways of their communications.

It appears that someone has been captured in western Iraq. It's just not clear yet who it is.

UPDATE3: Global News Wire published an interview with Iyad Allawi today. The date of the interview is not specified, but Allawi had this to say about Zarqawi:

Al-Zarqawi is behind a large number of the bombing operations, especially the suicidal ones. But his presence in Iraq is doubtful. No one knows if he is inside or outside Iraq. But there is a gang leader who is carrying out terrorist actions and calling himself Al-Zarqawi and he is in Iraq. I do not know however if he is the real Al-Zarqawi or not. Al-Zarqawi always disguises himself and uses different names and several passports. He has different identity cards.

Perhaps this "gang leader" is the one who was arrested in western Iraq?

Readers note: I'm getting all this off Lexis/Nexis, which is why I can't provide links. If I later find the actual articles on the web, I'll link them here.

UPDATE4: Another source reporting essentially the same thing we already know. Are all these reports just echos of the original story? It's hard to determine what's really going on at this point, but I'm voting for the "gang leader" explanation that possibly is the actual al Zarqawi. (Hat tip to Tom Maguire for this one.)