'Cut out their hearts'
2007-02-22 22:56
Cairo - Three Iraqi insurgent groups, including al-Qaeda in Iraq, have threatened to intensify their attacks on US and Iraqi forces to avenge the alleged rapes of women by security force members.
That's according to web statements purportedly posted by the organisations on Thursday.
The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, made a call to arms in an audio tape.
"Annihilate their checkpoints, break into their camps, cut them to pieces and cut their hearts out of their bodies."
The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately verified.
"Oh, convoys of martyrs, go with the blessing of God, turn their checkpoints into fire, wreck their homes and make their blood flow in rivers!"
300 suicide-attack volunteers
The tape was the most dramatic of three statements posted on the web that purported to carry insurgent responses to the charges of rape levelled by women against Iraqi policemen and soldiers this week.
In his tape, al-Masri addressed the first victim, whose name he gave, and said: "You, pure honest woman ... be patient and know that more than 300 Iraqi fighters volunteered for suicide attacks in the first 10 hours after they heard the news."
He said the volunteers included 50 members of her Janabi clan, and "more than 20 of them have asked to marry you".
- AP