Abu Ibrahim said his fighters killed 18 Al Qaeda militants and captured 16 in the fight southeast of Samarra, a mostly Sunni city about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
"We found out that Al Qaeda intended to attack us, so we ambushed them at 3 p.m. on Friday," Abu Ibrahim said. He would not say whether any Islamic Army members were killed.
Much of the Islamic Army in Iraq, a major Sunni Arab insurgent group that includes former members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, has joined the US-led fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq along with Sunni tribesmen and other former insurgents repelled by the terror group's brutality and extremism.
An Iraqi police officer corroborated Abu Ibrahim's account, but said police officers were not able to verify the number of casualties because the area was still too dangerous to enter.
Before the battle, the insurgent commander personally contacted Iraqi police in Samarra to tell them his plans, according to the officer and Abu Ibrahim. He asked that Iraqi authorities inform the American military about his plans, and requested that no US troops interfere, they said.
The US military said yesterday that it had no record of American troops ever being informed about the operation, and it was unclear whether Iraqi police followed through on Abu Ibrahim's request.
The police officer said the Al Qaeda captives would not be transferred to Iraqi police.
Instead, he said, he believed the Islamic Army would offer a prisoner swap for some of its members held by Al Qaeda. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because of the situation's sensitivity.
Meanwhile, farther east, in Diyala Province, members of another former insurgent group, the 1920s Revolution Brigades, launched a military-style operation yesterday against Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Iraqi Army said.
About 60 militants were captured and handed over to Iraqi soldiers, an Army officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to media.
Afterward, hundreds of people paraded through Buhriz, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, witnesses said. Many danced and fired their guns into the air, shouting "Down with Al Qaeda!" and "Diyala is for all Iraqis!"
