Iraqi National Guard Commander Arrested

A senior Iraqi national guard commander has been arrested on suspicion of having ties to insurgents, the U.S. military said Sunday.

In the wake of the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty in June and just four months before parliamentary elections, U.S. troops have been trying to transfer more authority for security to Iraqi forces. But the commander’s arrest -- which follows the detention of an Iraqi police chief -- raises questions about the allegiance of Iraqi security services.

Brig. Gen. Talib Ghayib Lahibi, who served as an infantry officer in Saddam Hussein’s army, was detained Thursday in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said.

The statement gave few details but said he was suspected of having links to militants who have been attacking coalition and Iraqi forces for 17 months. Lahibi was the acting head of the Iraqi national guard for Diyala province, said Maj. Neal O’Brien, spokesman for the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division.

Before the invasion, Lahibi was an instructor at the military college in Baghdad, and he commanded troops in Mosul during the fall of Hussein’s regime.

Last month, Marines announced that U.S.-led forces had detained Al Anbar province Police Chief Jaadan Mohammed Alwan in Ramadi.

Alwan, the Marines said, was suspected of corruption and involvement in criminal activities.