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Omar al-Baghdaddy Announces Honored Murder Campaign
BAGHDAD - An al-Qaida front group warned it will hunt down and kill Sunni Arab tribal leaders who cooperate with the U.S. and its Iraqi partners, saying the assassination of the leader of the revolt against the terror movement was just a beginning. In a separate statement, the Islamic State of Iraq announced a new offensive in Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting that began this week. The statement said the offensive was in honor of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in June 2006. The statements were posted Friday and Saturday on Islamist Web sites and among other things claimed responsibility for the assassination of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, who spearheaded the uprising against al-Qaida in Anbar province west of the capital. In claiming responsibility for Abu Risha's death Thursday, the Islamic State said it had formed "special security committees" to track down and "assassinate the tribal figures, the traitors, who stained the reputations of the real tribes by submitting to the soldiers of the Crusade" and the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "We will publish lists of names of the tribal figures to scandalize them in front of our blessed tribes," the statement added. In a second statement posted Saturday, the purported head of the Islamic State, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said he was "honored to announce" the new offensive in memory of al-Zarqawi. What an 'honor'. "Today we witness the fallacy of the Western civilization and the renaissance of the Islamic giant," al-Baghdadi said in a half-hour audio file. U.S. officials hope Abu Risha's death will not reverse the tide against al-Qaida, which began last year when he organized Sunni clans to fight the terror movement, producing a dramatic turnaround in Ramadi and other parts of Anbar province. If this turns the tribes back to AQ then they were never turned our way to before. And they will get what they deserve - destruction by the Shia. The revolt has spread to Sunni insurgent groups in Baghdad, Diyala province and elsewhere. Some insurgents who were ambushing U.S. troops a few months ago are now working alongside the Americans to rid their communities of al-Qaida. Abu Risha's brother Ahmed was elected head of the Anbar Awakening movement soon after the bombing at the family's heavily guarded compound on the outskirts of Ramadi. The national Interior Ministry announced that a police brigade would be named after the slain tribal leader and a statue would be erected in Ramadi in his honor. "We condemn the killing of Abu Risha, but this will not deter us from helping the people of Anbar we will support them more than before," al-Rubaie declared. "It is a national disaster and a great loss for the Iraqi people Abu Risha was the only person to confront al-Qaida in Anbar." Posted by: Glenmore 2007-09-15 |
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