I was under the impression that al qaeda favoured the restricted view of life favoured by the shiites, yet al qaeda in Iraq has just turned the Iraq war into a religious war against shiites, this appears to be a 180 on their position in Afganistan. Who can understand these islamists?
'Al-Qaeda tape' calls for war on Shi'ites
September 15, 2005 - 6:43AM
The al-Qaeda frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, declared "all-out war" against the Shi'ites in Iraq, in an audiotape attributed to him and posted on the internet.
Earlier, militants loyal to the Jordanian-born Zarqawi claimed they had carried out a wave of suicide bombings in Baghdad to avenge an offensive by US and Iraqi government troops on the northern rebel town of Tal Afar.
The bombings claimed 152 lives, and wounded 542, making it the bloodiest day of insurgent attacks in the Iraqi capital since the US-led war of March 2003.
"The conquest of revenge for the Sunni people of Tal Afar has started," Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda Organisation in the Land of Two Rivers said in the statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified.
In further overnight attacks, 17 men were shot dead in a village north of Baghdad, which put the death toll in all violence in and around the capital today at 169.
Zarqawi, who has a $US25 million ($32.85 million) bounty on his head, also urged Sunni Arabs to wake from their slumber, telling them "the war to exterminate Sunnis will never end".
Iraq's most wanted man also challenged Iraqi leaders to leave the highly fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad where the seat of government is located, to challenge the mujahideen or holy warriors.
AFP, AP |
