DUBAI (AFX) - The Iraqi branch of Al-Qaeda denied that its second-highest official, Hamed Jumaa al-Saedi, had been arrested in Iraq, in a statement posted on an internet site.

"The apostate government is trying to disguise its defeats by announcing the arrest of the 'number two in Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia'," the statement said, a day after Iraqi national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie hailed Saedi's capture.

"This announcement is also designed to hide the latest defeats of the Crusaders and their valets in Al-Anbar (province of western Iraq) and Baghdad," said the group calling itself the Mujahedeen Consultative Council. newsdesk@afxnews.com afp/cml

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