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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S.-led forces captured two men believed to be senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders, including one suspected of planning the 2006 kidnapping of U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, a military statement said.
Jill Carroll, seen here in an interview following her 2006 release, was held for nearly three months in Iraq.
Coalition forces captured the suspects in Baghdad on August 11 and 17, according to the statement.
The suspects were identified as Salim Abdallah Ashur al-Shujayri, also known as Abu Uthman, and Ali Rash Nasir Jiyad al-Shammari, also known as Abu Tiba.
Abu Uthman is suspected of masterminding Carroll's abduction, the statement said. Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, was abducted in January 2006 and freed unharmed in March of that year.
Both men are suspected of overseeing car or suicide bombings targeting Iraqis with the intent of inciting sectarian violence, the statement said.
Abu Tiba is suspected to have been in charge of as many 15 al Qaeda in Iraq "attack cells," providing them with money, weapons and explosives, according to the statement.
The men were also suspected of being connected to other kidnappings, the statement said.
"The capture of Abu Tiba and Abu Uthman eliminates two of the few remaining experienced leaders in the AQI [al Qaeda in Iraq] network," the statement said.
All About Jill Carroll • Al Qaeda in Iraq
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