Video posted Tuesday on a militant Islamic Web site in the name of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group showed what it claimed was a Japanese captive and threatened to behead him within 48 hours unless Japan pulls its troops from Iraq. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rejected the demand. "I won't withdraw troops," he was quoted as saying by Japan's Kyodo news agency after receiving news of the hostage threat. Underscoring the warning, insurgents made a new threat of nationwide attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces "with weapons and military tactics they have not experienced before" if American forces try to storm the militant stronghold of Fallujah.
Allawi has told Fallujah leaders that they must surrender extremists, chief among them al-Zarqawi, or face attack. His comments Tuesday appeared aimed at preparing Iraqis for the eventuality of such an attack, which could inflame public opinion in Iraq and elsewhere in the Arab world. In a videotape obtained by Associated Press Television News, militants calling themselves the "factions of the Islamic Resistance Movement in Iraq" warned that if the Americans try to overrun Fallujah, "we swear in the name of God that all armed factions will attack all military and civilian targets of the occupation forces and the interim government." The warning was delivered by a masked gunman dressed in an old-style Iraqi army uniform, flanked by seven other men. The speaker accused the Iraqi government of "aborting a peaceful solution with the people of Fallujah."
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday he won't withdraw troops from Iraq despite information a Japanese man has been taken hostage there, Kyodo News reported. |