PHOENIX  — Federal authorities say they have arrested a Phoenix-area man suspected of killing two men while acting as a leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.

The Department of Justice said that 42-year-old Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-Nouri appeared before a magistrate judge on Friday for proceedings to extradite him to Iraq.

The department says the government there has charged Al-Nouri with two counts of murder in connection with a killing in 2006 in Fallujah.

They say that he and other members of al-Qaida shot and killed a lieutenant and an officer with the Fallujah Police Directorate in 2006.

A U.S. magistrate judge issued a warrant for him on Wednesday.

It’s unclear how long Al-Nouri had lived in the Arizona or what he did in the state. No further information was released.