BAGHDAD — Leery of using a mobile phone, the militant tasked with directing some of Baghdad’s deadliest recent bombings would get his orders from al-Qaeda in Iraq’s leadership by meeting a go-between near a grocery store named Mr. Milk.
So, after Iraqi security forces nabbed the militant, Munaf Abdul-Rahim al-Rawi, it was to Mr. Milk’s store that he led investigators.
That was the first step culminating in what Iraqi and American officials called a devastating blow to the terrorist group: the killing of al-Qaeda in Iraq’s secretive two top leaders in a raid last week.
In an officially sanctioned interview this week with The Associated Press, al-Rawi offered rare insight into the shadowy group that continues to plague Iraq after years of attacks designed to push the country into civil war.
Al-Rawi’s arrest itself was something of a coup for Iraqi security forces. Known by his underlings as “the dictator,” al-Rawi commanded al-Qaeda operations in Baghdad, and an Iraqi security spokesman confirmed that al-Rawi played a role in a number of attacks, including the August bombings of several government ministries that killed more than 100 people.
On March 11, al-Rawi was passing through a Baghdad checkpoint, where a guard recognized him from his photo on a most-wanted list and arrested him, al-Rawi said.
But the capture was kept secret from the public, as he gave investigators information that led to the April 18 strike that killed Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
Now al-Rawi will likely face trial for his own role. In the 45-minute interview, he shrugged off worries over his fate.
“My hope is to enter paradise,” al-Rawi said.
