Iraqi security forces captured a suspect allegedly involved in last week's assassination of the head of an Iraqi committee in charge of purging former president Saddam Hussein's loyalists

 Iraqi security forces captured a suspect allegedly involved in last week's assassination of the head of an Iraqi committee in charge of purging former president Saddam Hussein's loyalists, a security source said on Tuesday.

"Iraqi security forces have arrested a terrorist who carried out the assassination of Ali al-Lami," Baghdad Operations Command, responsible for security in the Iraqi capital, stated in a statement.

"The terrorist was affiliated with the intelligence service of the former Saddam Hussein's regime," the statement said.

The suspect was captured in al-Taji region, some 20 km north of Baghdad, throughout an operation carried out by the Iraqi security forces based on intelligence reports, the statement stated without having giving further details.

On Thursday, gunmen employing silenced weapons shot dead executive director of the Justice and Accountability Commission (JAC) Ali al- Lami, a Shiite Muslim, although driving in his vehicle in east of Baghdad.

The JAC, formerly named de-Baathification Committee and formed following the Iraqi war, is tasked with vetting folks trying to get government jobs or take political office for ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

Al-Lami and his JAC came under fire in last year's general election since he banned some Sunni candidates running for office on the allegation that the latter had ties with Saddam's Baath regime. Several Sunnis see the move as attempts to further marginalize the minority group which ruled the country prior to.

His death was part of a wave of attacks against Iraq's government officials and security forces during the past couple of months.

Posted in: Iraqi security forces captured a suspect allegedly involved in last week's assassination of the head of an Iraqi committee in charge of purging former president Saddam Hussein's loyalists