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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Fallujah - Iraqi Truck Drivers executed as well |
| 2004-06-24 |
| EFL: from RFE/RL Relatives of six Iraqi truck drivers abducted earlier this month in Al-Fallujah accuse foreign fighters and Muslim radicals of torturing and then killing their loved ones. They say local Iraqi police and Iraqi troops based in the town did nothing to stop the killings. -snip- Al-Khaj Khairi is the uncle of Basim Muhammad Tahresh, one of the Shi’a drivers killed in Al-Fallujah. He told RFE/RL that he went to the city seeking to negotiate the release of his nephew and saw Iraqi radicals in control and armed fighters from all over the Arab world. "Some of them are from outside Iraq -- from all Arab countries," he said. "I heard that Omar al-Hadidi, the head of [the radical Islamic movement] Al-Jama’a al-Salafiya al-Mujahida had [the drivers], and he is an Iraqi. All the groups are under his command, and with them are Arab groups. I saw them with my own eyes -- Tunisians, Sudanese, Yemenis. I saw them with my own eyes." Khair Abas Abid said his son Ylais and his brother Hammad were also killed in Al-Fallujah. He said he and his relatives went many times to Al-Fallujah to negotiate their release and saw what he described as many armed foreigners roaming the town. "We found Syrians, Palestinians, and we found suicide bombers in the houses, and they call themselves Muslims," he said. "And Al-Fallujah is isolated from all Iraq. The police and the army are collaborating with [local Sunni leader] Abdullah Janabi." Abid said he spoke with Janabi several times and that Janabi explained that the drivers were being interrogated. But Janabi insisted he did not know who was interrogating them. Negotiations to secure the release of the truck drivers dragged on for more than a week until Abid lost his patience. Several days later, after the talks collapsed, Abid said he was informed that the bodies of his loved ones were in the morgue in the city of Al-Ramadi, some 100 kilometers west of Al-Fallujah. He said his brother had six daughters and two sons. "These people call themselves mujahedin, but can a mujahedin perform this kind of cruelty if he is fighting for a cause of God?" Abid asked. "They are outside of Islam." Janabi has denied any involvement in the deaths of the truck drivers. -snip- |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #2 The perspective of time doesn't improve this story. One can only hope that the new Iraqi government starts out by encircling this pestilential sty and separating the sheep from the goats. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-06-24 11:57:16 AM |
| #1 I think this is the fourth time we've seen this story. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-24 8:49:59 AM |