US and Iraqi forces have arrested the second most senior figure of al Qaeda in Iraq and killed 20 fellow militants, Iraq?s national security adviser said yesterday, claiming a major victory over the insurgents.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie named him as Hameed Juma Faris al-Suaidi, also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, and said he was deputy to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took over the Sunni Islamist group after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi died in a US air strike in June.

Rubaie told a news conference Suaidi was arrested with several followers some days ago in an undisclosed area and was responsible for directing the man blamed for February?s shrine bombing in Samarra that sparked much sectarian bloodshed. Despite his rank, Suaidi?s name was not widely known. Rubaie did not disclose his nationality. Most fighters are Iraqi, officials say, but Zarqawi was Jordanian and Masri is believed to be an Egyptian, although there is some doubt on his identity.

Describing Suaidi?s arrest, Rubaie said: ?He was hiding in a building used by families. He wanted to use children and women as human shields as our forces attempted to capture him. Hamid al-Suaidi led a group that kidnapped people. He ordered bombings and mortar attacks that killed a number of our armed forces and our citizens. Al Qaeda in Iraq is severely wounded.?

The Feb. 22 bombing of a Shi?ite shrine in Samarra, which US and Iraqi officials blamed on al Qaeda figure called Haitham al-Badri, unleashed a wave of killings and reprisals between majority Shi?ites and Sunnis that has killed thousands and pushed the country to the verge of civil war.

Al Qaeda itself denied responsibility. ?After his arrest he gave critical and important information and we ended up killing 11 militants of the second tier and nine of the lower tier,? Rubaie said of Suaidi.

Despite US and Iraqi successes in making arrests, bombings and other attacks on Shi?ite civilians blamed on al Qaeda continue to strike Iraq.

<B>Mussab Al-Khairalla</B>

CONTINUOUS KILLINGS

<B>Iraq Sunni group claims deadly attacks on Shi?ites</B>

■ An Iraqi Sunni Muslim militant group claimed responsibility yesterday for a series of attacks against Shi?ites in Baghdad on Thursday in which 50 people were killed. In a statement posted on the Internet, Jamaat Jund al-Sahaba (Soldiers of the Prophet?s Companions) said the attacks were in retaliation against what it said were killings of Sunni Muslims by Shi?ite militias.

?God has enabled your brethren in the Jamaat Jund al-Sahaba to carry out a series of blessed operations against the strongholds of rejectionists (Shi?ites)...? said the statement posted on a Web site used by militant groups including al Qaeda. ?We tell the hateful rejectionists that our swords can reach the depth of your territories so stop killing unarmed Sunni people and supporting crusaders or await more operations that will rock your areas with God?s help,? it added. The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.

A series of explosions devastated homes in Baghdad just before nightfall on Thursday, killing 50 people and wounding five times as many, some of them in an apartment block that collapsed. The blasts came as families gathered for the start of the weekend. In August, the group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 35 people and wounded 120 near one of Shi?ite Islam?s holiest sites, the Imam Ali shrine in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf.

It said the Baghdad operation involved explosive devices, mortars and Katyusha missiles. A senior Interior Ministry official and sources in police headquarters and at some of the seven blast sites said rockets hit neighbourhoods across the mainly Shi?ite east of the city. Al Qaeda?s umbrella organisation in Iraq in a statement posted on Thursday called on Sunni Muslims to fight the Shi?ite majority.