BAGHDAD, Dec 25: US Marines said on Saturday they had captured two leaders of a militant group linked to Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq's restive city of Ramadi.

It said the men, Saleh Arugayan Khalil, also known as Abu Obaida, and Bassem Mohammad Hazim, also known as Abu Khattab, were captured on Dec 8 and Dec 12 during sweeps of the mainly Sunni Muslim province west of the capital.

"These individuals were cell leaders for a local Zarqawi-affiliated terrorist group that is operating in Ramadi and western Anbar province," the Marines said in a statement.

"This group is responsible for intimidating, attacking and murdering innocent Iraqi civilians, police, security forces and business and political leaders throughout the Anbar province."

Last month, US-led forces launched a major offensive against the nearby town of Falluja to flush out local insurgents and foreign fighters led by Zarqawi, who is allied to Al Qaeda.

US and Iraqi officials have since said insurgent leaders probably fled Falluja to other cities ahead of the assault.

Rebels have since attacked and briefly overrun police stations in Iraq's third largest city of Mosul and clash daily with US troops in the country's Sunni north and west.

The Marines said the men detained in Ramadi led a group that had kidnapped and killed 11 Iraqi National Guards in recent months as well as planting bombs and smuggling foreign militants into Iraq to fight US-led forces.

Information from local residents had helped the Marines capture several members of the group, which the statement named as the hitherto unknown 'Harun terrorist network'.

"Many foreign fighters were also detained," it said.

"The detainees have provided information regarding the involvement of other individuals who are actively recruiting and smuggling foreign terrorists."

US and Iraqi officials say foreign Islamist militants led by Zarqawi are behind many of the bombings, killings and kidnappings that have plagued Iraq since shortly after the end of last year's US-led invasion.

They have also blamed Saddam Hussein loyalists for the attacks, although some Iraqis say insurgents are locals fed up with the presence of foreign troops in their country. -Reuters