Source: Baghdad death squad leaders have fled to Iran with Maliki encouragement

The only known picture of Abu Deera

DEATH SQUAD leaders have fled Baghdad to evade capture or killing by American and Iraqi forces before the start of the troop “surge” and security crackdown in the capital.

A former senior Iraqi minister said most of the leaders loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric, had gone into hiding in Iran.

Among those said to have fled is Abu Deraa, the Shi’ite militia leader whose appetite for sectarian savagery has been compared to that of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed last year.

The former minister, who did not want to be named for security reasons, backed Sunni MPs’ claims that Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, had encouraged their flight. He alleged that weapons belonging to Sadr’s Mahdi Army had been hidden inside the Iraqi interior ministry to prevent confiscation.

Maliki said last week: “I know that senior criminals have left Baghdad, others have left the country. This is good — this shows that our message is being taken seriously.”

Read the rest at the Times of London

Related Link:
Perspective: Iraq’s most prolific mass killer?

Related Link:
Perspective: Face to face with Iraq's most wanted

Related Link:
Perspective: The Face of Brutality

Related Link:
The Iraqis' Stories: A vicious monster rises in Iraq's sectarian war – 'the Shia Zarqawi'