A Islamist militant group has threatened to turn Iraq into a "hell" for Salvadorean troops if their government goes ahead with plans to send a new contingent, according to an Internet statement posted on Thursday. "If you send troops to Iraq we will not be merciful nor will we refrain from responding and your fate will be hell," said the group calling itself Islamic Tawhid. The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified. "We advise the people of El Salvador not to send their sons to Iraq as we only understand the language of rigged cars and blood. This is just one of several simple messages we have sent to countries that have sent troops to Iraq," it added.
At least one other Islamist group -- the Mohammed Atta Brigade, al Qaeda of Jihad -- has also threatened to attack El Salvador if the small Central American nation did not cancel plans to send soldiers to Iraq. But El Salvador has shrugged off the threat and said it would go ahead with its deployment. Last month, a group also calling itself Islamic Tawhid threatened to attack Muslim countries that send troops to Iraq in a statement posted on a Web site used by Islamists. In Thursday's statement, the group said it had earlier warned Australia, Italy and Denmark against keeping forces to Iraq. |