Zarqawi vows to fight Shiites
2005-07-06 18:48
Dubai - The head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, lashed out at contacts between other rebels and United States officials as he announced the creation of a new unit to take on Shiite foes, in a voice message attributed to him on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Iraq's most-wanted man, who had a $25m bounty on his head, also puportedly vowed to head to the Palestinian territories to continue the fight after "victory" had been won in Iraq.
The voice message on the internet, without giving further explanation, said: "The enemy is experiencing its worst days on the soil of Mesopotamia, at a time when a member of the US congress has said the US is losing the war in Iraq."
The voice said, referring to the contacts that have taken place between insurgents in Iraq and US officials: "Some people want to stop our jihad (holy war) in Mesopotamia."
Offer for negotiations
It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the message, which came two days after a newly named "spokesperson" for two Iraqi insurgent groups asked the US congress to make an "official" offer for negotiations.
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld had confirmed that contacts have taken place between Washington and elements from the insurgency, and also made clear that the US had never talked with Zarqawi.
Zarqawi, whose insurgency was operated by mainly Sunni militants, said he was creating a new brigade, called "Brigade Omar" to take on its opponents within Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim community.
The new brigade would "seek to remove the symbols and the members of the brigades of treason, the Badr Brigades", referring to the thousands-strong Shiite paramilitaries trained and supported by Iran to fight the former regime.
Its parent organisation, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said it had now been transformed into a political organisation called the Badr Organisation.
Lieutenant colonel gunned down
The defence ministry said hours after the message was made public, a lieutenant colonel in the Badr militia was gunned down in Baghdad, adding that he was carried a badge that identified him as a member of the group.
In the new recording, Zarqawi for the first time also vowed to move "after the victory in Iraq" into the Palestinian territories to continue the jihad there.
"All that we want is to win a victory in Iraq so that we can go into Beit al-Maqdes (Jerusalem)."
The voice also hit out at some Islamist ideologues, like his ex-mentor Abu Mohamad al-Madqissi, who had slammed the insurgency for targeting ordinary Iraqis as well as the international forces based in Iraq.
"Some people have made a classification that is new for the jihad in Iraq by dividing the resistance into two categories: an honourable resistance that fights the infidel occupiers and a dishonourable resistance that fights Iraqis whoever they are.
- AFP