October 20, 2008
Al Qaeda #2 in Iraq was a Swedish citizen
Al Qaida's #2 in Iraq, Muhammad Moumou, who was killed last week held Swedish citizenship. Moumou obtained Swedish citizenship back in 1994. Moumou was known to Swedish authorities as early as 2004 when he was arrested in Denmark for playing a role in the suicide bombing in Casablance back in 2003 that killed 33 people.
He was a close associate of al-Zarqawi and apparently served as Zarqawi's European liason for chemical and biological weapons.
From Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Oct. 16 -- Al-Qaeda in Iraq's alleged No. 2 leader, who the U.S. military said died this month after a gun battle with American forces in northern Iraq, was a Swedish citizen designated as a terrorist by the United States, the United Nations and the European Union, a U.S. official said Thursday.More at ROAThe intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Muhammad Moumou, 43, a Moroccan native, was the man U.S. military officials in Baghdad identified Wednesday as Abu Qaswarah.
U.S. officials say Moumou, who was born in the Moroccan city of Fez and obtained Swedish citizenship in 1994, was a close associate of al-Qaeda in Iraq founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006.
