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Sadr men warn they could become suicide bombers
... instead of mere cannon fodder...Fighters in Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army threatened yesterday to become suicide bombers if their leader is killed in the fighting in Najaf with US and Iraqi forces. Torn between disbelief and anger after reports the fiery Sadr was wounded earlier in the day, the militiamen warned they were willing to sacrifice their lives to bomb US bases across Iraq. "I heard the news of his injury and I want to be the first to carry out a suicide bid against the Americans if Moqtada Sadr orders me to," said Alaa Abed Mohammed, 22, who travelled to the holy city from his hometown of Samawa and was exhausted and feverish after nine days of battle. "I am very angry and that gives me double the strength to fight," said Mohammed, dressed in the informal all-black Mehdi Army uniform and wearing a green bandanna sybolising A Sadr spokesman had said the cleric was hit by shrapnel in the chest, arms and legs, although the interim Iraqi government denied the report. Sipping tea near the revered Imam Ali mausoleum, another 22-year-old fighter, Abu Sadjad Al Khafadji, pledged his life to Sadr even as the multinational forces appeared to be closing in on their positions. "If God allows Moqtada Sadr to become a martyr, all those in the Mehdi Army will turn themselves into human bombs against American bases," said Khafadji, who hails from Baghdad. "It will be hell for them and paradise for us". Posted by: Fred 2004-08-14 |
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