The high-level al-Qaeda militants were captured on Tuesday morning after security forces were tipped off by intelligence agents about their presence in al-Suweira district, which is situated about 135 kilometers (84 miles) north of Kut.

Iraqi security forces stormed several houses, located the militants, and arrested them.

A police source said that the militants were wanted for involvement in several criminal acts and bombings across Wasit province.

He went on to say that arrest warrants had been issued for them months ago.

Al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq are said to have formed an alliance with remnants of the deposed Baath Party, a move US and Iraqi officials describe as a marriage of convenience. Al-Qaeda in Iraq is believed to supply the bombers while the Baathist extremists provide the logistics and planning.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq was headed by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi until he was killed in a US air strike in June 2006. His successor, Masri, was Zarqawi's close associate and has a US bounty of $5 million on his head.

Iraqi and US officials blame al-Qaeda in Iraq for most of the major bombings in the country, including the attack on a Shia shrine in Samarra in February 2006 that sparked a wave of sectarian violence that nearly tipped Iraq into all-out civil war.

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