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Kurdish Party Says It Captures Ansar Thugs
An Iraqi Kurdish group said on Tuesday its Peshmerga fighters had captured several members of Ansar al-Islam, a shadowy group reported to have links with al Qaeda, near the border with Iran. "We captured a number of them yesterday (Monday) and we shall do our investigations to know who are those people and what is their plan," Adel Murad, a spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told Reuters in Baghdad.Kurdish truncheon alert! Murad said Kurdish fighters rounded up 50 people who had entered north of Iraq through borders with Iran coming from Afghanistan. "I do not know if all of them are from Ansar al-Islam or the majority of them or some of them. Our security forces captured them on the borders with Iran," Murad said. Gee, what a suprise. Well, not really. Ansar al-Islam has been identified as one of several groups suspected of carrying out a car bomb attack against the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad last week which killed 17 people. Car bombs are one of their trademarks, but there are plenty of other suspects. Murad said that before the U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein the PUK raided headquarters of the group and killed and captured a number of militants. "Now we think the group returned to the area to resume their terrorist acts in Kurdistan and to participate in terrorist operations inside Iraq," he said. "We will capture them and send them to trial." Please do, call if you need help. The PUK has clashed repeatedly in recent years with Ansar al-Islam and says its members have trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Independent observers have not confirmed the Ansarâs link with al Qaeda and bin Laden. Independent observers have also not confirmed the earth is round. Posted by: Steve 2003-08-12 |
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