Court files detail Iraq case vs. Arizonan

Phoenix man is accused of 2006 al-Qaida killings

Late afternoon on June 1, 2006, Issam Ahmed Hussein, a 1st lieutenant in the Fallujah police department in Iraq, was sitting with several other people inside a cigarette store on Street 40 when two cars pulled up.

Six masked gunmen exited the two vehicles — one a black Daewoo Prince, the second an unknown make with white stripes. One gunman placed a pistol to the head of one of the people seated inside the store and said, “if you moved, I’ll blow your head off.”

A second gunman pointed a pistol at the 1st lieutenant and pulled the trigger three times. Each time, however, the pistol malfunctioned, prompting the gunman to cuss, “God Almighty.”

Another gunman armed with an AK-47 assault rifle then cornered Ahmed Hussein inside the store and opened fire, hitting the police officer multiple times. Before dying, the 1st lieutenant recited prayers.

Federal court records made public Monday provided new details from eyewitness accounts of the assassinations of two Iraqi police officers in Fallujah in 2006.

The Iraq government alleges in court documents the assassinations were carried out by an al-Qaida terrorist group led by Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-

Nouri. The 42-year-old Phoenix resident was arrested Thursday by federal authorities at his business, the A-Plus Driving School, near 35th and Glendale avenues in northwestern Phoenix.

A member of the group who was in prison told Iraqi authorities that Ahmed also shot the 1st lieutenant with a 9 mm Tariq pistol, according to court records.

The Iraq government wants Ahmed extradited from the United States to face charges of premeditated murder of two Fallujah police officers, the first on about June 1, 2006, and the second on about Oct. 3, 2006.

If convicted of the premeditated murder charges, Ahmed faces the death penalty, according to court documents filed by the Iraq government to support of efforts to extradite him.

The records were unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court of Arizona.

Federal officials have not said when or how Ahmed entered the U.S. But Jabir Algarawi, a friend and Iraqi community leader in Phoenix, said Ahmed came as a refugee in January 2008.

Ahmed was well-known in Phoenix’s close-knit Iraqi refugee community, one of the largest in the U.S. He was married last year to an Iraqi refugee he met in Phoenix. The couple had their first baby in January, according to friends and acquaintances.

Friends and acquaintances told The Arizona Republic that Ahmed is exceptionally friendly and outgoing, and they were shocked to learn of his arrest as an alleged al-Qaida leader wanted on charges of murdering two police officers in Iraq.

Several witnesses identified Ahmed as the “emir” — or leader — of an al-Qaida terrorist group, according to court records. The group plotted to kill the 1st lieutenant while meeting at a carpentry store Ahmed owned on Street 40, according to the court records.

One eyewitness said the group targeted the police 1st lieutenant because he worked for the police force and lived in the same Al-Shurtah neighborhood as the militants, according to court records.

The same group plotted to kill Khalid Ibrahim Mohammad, who was a police officer in the same police department as the 1st lieutenant, the court records say.

A statement released by U.S. Justice Department officials based on information provided by the Iraq government said Ibrahim Mohammad was killed on about Oct. 3, 2006.

An eyewitness who belonged to the al-Qaida group said the operation was carried out by several gunmen in two vehicles, a walnut color Opel Vector and a grey Opel Omega.

While driving near a water tank on Street 40, the gunmen spotted Ibrahim Mohammad standing near some stores along with two civilians, according to court records. The vehicles stopped, and Ahmed allegedly stepped out of one of the vehicles carrying a 9 mm pistol along with several other gunmen armed with AK-47 assault rifles, according to court records.

Ahmed and the other gunmen opened fire, hitting and killing the police officer, according to court records. The two civilians were also shot, records say.

Before fleeing, the gunmen took the policeman’s handgun.

As the gunmen fled, one accomplice, said he began firing rounds above the heads of bystanders to disburse and freight them, according to court records.

One eye witness said he recognized Ahmed during the shooting when his mask fell off, records say.

Eyewitnesses later identified Ahmed as one of the assailants through photographs.

In 2006, one of the members of Ahmed’s group was captured by coalition forces and turned over to the Iraqi police, according to a complaint filed by Justice Department officials as part of the extradition case against Ahmed.

The al-Qaida member confessed to working with Ahmed and other members to kill police officers, the complaint said.

An Iraqi judge issued an arrest warrant for Ahmed in May 2019, according to the complaint.

In the information provided to the U.S. government in support of Ahmed’s extradition, the Iraq Security Service said Ahmed was born in 1977 in Fallujah, in Al-Anbar province. Ahmed has gunshot wounds to his face and back, the Iraqi Security Service said, according to court records.

According to information provided by the Iraq government, Ahmed was shot in the cheek while assassinating one of the police officers in Al-Anbar province. After receiving treatment, he fled to Syria, where he lived for a period of time and then traveled to the United States, according to court records.

Through sources, Iraqi investigators later learned Ahmed was living in Arizona. Through research on the internet and the social media platform Facebook, Iraqi officials found several webpages of Ahmed using various aliases. They learned he was the operator of the A-Plus Driving School in Phoenix.

A-Plus Driving School was formed on June 22, 2016, according to Arizona Corporation Commission records. The owner is listed as Ali Yousif Ahmed. The business is listed as being in “good standing,” according to the commission’s website.

The Iraq government submitted a request to the United States government on Oct. 17, 2019, requesting that Ahmed be extradited from the U.S. to Iraq under a 1934 treaty between the two countries, court records show.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Z. Boyle issued a warrant for Ahmed’s arrest on Jan. 29, according to Justice Department officials.

Ahmed was arrested Thursday, Jan. 30, by agents from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Ahmed is being represented by the federal public defender’s office, according to court records. The office did not return a phone call seeking comment.