Al-Qaida in Iraq Declares War On Shiites

[visionary]

Al-Qaida in Iraq declares all-out war

Following attacks that killed over 150, al-Zarqawi announces war intentions

MSNBC News Services

Updated: 2:43 p.m. ET Sept. 14, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - After a dozen explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital Wednesday, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq purportedly declared all out war on Shiite Muslims, Iraqi troops and the country's government in an audio tape released on Internet.

Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attacks, which killed at least 152 people and wounded 542, targeted at laborers assembled to find work for the day.

The bloodiest attack killed at least 88 people and wounded 227 in the heavily Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah where the day laborers had gathered shortly after dawn.

The speaker on the released audio tape, introduced as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also said his militant forces would attack any Iraqi it believes has cooperated with an ongoing U.S.-led offensive in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar.

"If proven that any of (Iraq's) national guards, police or army are agents of the Crusaders, they will be killed and his house will demolished or burnt — after evacuating all women and children — as a punishment," the voice said in the new tape, which surfaced on an Internet site known for carrying extremist Islamist content.

‘There will be no mercy’

The speaker announced "all-out war against Shiites everywhere. Beware, there will be no mercy."

Overnight Wednesday, 17 men were executed in a village north of Baghdad, which put the death toll in all violence in and around the capital Wednesday at 169 and the number continued to rise.

Al-Qaida in Iraq said it was behind the attacks.

"We would like to congratulate the Muslim nation and inform them the battle to avenge the Sunnis of Tal Afar has begun," said a statement posted on an Islamist Web site, referring to the northern town being bombarded by U.S. and Iraqi forces.

"Our brigades have joyfully set off to uphold their religionhttp://msnbc-wbpreview/default.aspx?id=9341411&workarea=3 through death ... we will inform you of the details of our operations in Baghdad and other parts of the country soon and we ask for your prayers," the statement added.

A senior American military official told The Associated Press he believed the bombings were retaliation for the sweep through Tal Afar in recent days to evict insurgents from their stronghold near the Syrian border.

The bomb that hit as laborers gathered in Kazimiyah was the single deadliest in the country since Feb. 28, when a suicide car bomber targeted Shiite police and National Guard recruits, killing 125 people in Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad.

As violence again shattered the capital after a period of relative calm, Iraqi lawmakers agreed on last-minute revisions to the contested draft constitution in a bid to appease the disgruntled Sunni minority, the core of the country’s virulent insurgency.

U.S. convoy targeted

About two hours after the Kazimiyah blast, a car bomb hit an American military convoy near Shaab stadium in eastern Baghdad, and Police Capt. Maher Hamad said two U.S. soldiers were wounded. That was not confirmed by the U.S. military.

Shortly thereafter, a third car bomb went alongside an Iraqi National Guard convoy in the northern Baghdad district of Shula, killing at least four people and wounding 22, authorities said.

Hours later, a fourth suicide car bomber attacked a U.S. convoy, sending a plume of billowing black smoke from an area several hundred meters from a hotel that houses foreign contractors.

Witnesses said the blast occurred between the main rail station and the Rashid Hotel, which are about 0.6 miles apart.

Police Lt. Thir Mahmoud said the suicide bomber targeted a passing U.S. military convoy. It was not clear whether the attack caused any casualties, he said.

A U.S. military spokesman said he had no information about the incident.

Information on the other bombings was not immediately available.

Executions

In addition to the deadly bombings, gunmen have carried out numerous ambushes and mortar attacks across the capital.

Much earlier Wednesday, gunmen wearing military uniforms surrounded a village north of Baghdad early Wednesday and executed 17 men, police said.

Police Lt. Waleed al-Hayali from Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad, said the gunmen detained the victims after searching the village. They were handcuffed, blindfolded and later shot at a site about 1 mile from the village.

The dead included one policeman and others who worked as drivers and construction workers for the U.S. military, said al-Hayali. The gunmen looted the village before fleeing.

Sunni militants have mounted a series of attacks on the Shiites in an apparent effort to provoke retaliation and a sectarian conflict.

Constitution sent to printers

Iraqi lawmakers, meanwhile, agreed on last-minute revisions to the contested draft constitution in a bid to appease the disgruntled Sunni minority that has formed the core support for the country's virulent insurgency.

With the Oct. 15 referendum on the draft constitution looming as several deadlines were missed, Iraqi lawmakers announced that the document had been finalized and would be sent to the United Nations for printing and distribution.

Hussein al-Shahristani, the deputy speaker of the National Assembly and a leading Shiite lawmaker, said the latest changes included an apparent bow to demands from the Arab League that the country be described as a founding member of the 22-member pan-Arab body and that it was "committed to its charter."

But that amended clause falls short of demands by Sunnis, who wanted the country's Arab identity clearly spelled out while mentions of federalism be struck from the document. They argue such language could ultimately lead to the disintegration of the multiethnic nation.

Still the changes, which included clarifying that water resource management was the federal government's responsibility and that the prime minister would have two deputies in the Cabinet, are significant after weeks of discussions on the draft.

Lull in violence shattered

Hopes that a relative lull in the violence in the country would continue were shattered with the latest attacks around the capital.

At Baghdad's al-Kazimiyah Hospital, dozens of wounded men were shown laying on stretchers and gurneys, their bandages and clothes soaked in blood. One older man in a traditional Arab gown and checkered head scarf sat in a plastic chair, his blood-soaked underwear exposed with a trail of dried blood snaking down his legs.

"A young man stopped his minibus in middle of the group and asked for laborers and that forced a lot of workers to gather around his car. He then blew up his car," said Saad Karim, 22, who was hit by shrapnel in his left arm and leg.

"I was about 20 meters away and I saw a fireball throwing parts of bodies into the air."

Dr. Qays Abdel-Wahab al-Bustani told Associated Press Television News they received 75 wounded people, including one woman and 47 others who were killed in the explosion. Al-Bustani said the wounded were in stable condition.

Assault on insurgents

The attacks came as U.S. and Iraqi forces continued their offensive on insurgents in northern Iraq, striking hard at what officials have said are militants sneaking across the border from Syria.

On Wednesday, three Iraqi soldiers were seriously wounded in an explosion that occurred after they entered a house they had previously searched. Iraqi forces also engaged insurgents in two fire fights as operations continued in the city, where some 200 militants were reported to have been killed in several days of fighting.

On Tuesday, they launched an attack on the Euphrates River stronghold of Haditha. Residents also reported American air strikes in the same region near Qaim, also near the Syrian border.

The Americans called in bombing raids in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of the capital. They captured one militant with ties to al-Qaida in Iraq and killed four others.

In the volatile city of Qaim, residents said clashes broke out between insurgents and coalition forces.

'No timetable for withdrawal'

With the insurgency showing little signs of abating, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in a news conference with his U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, said American forces would remain in the country until Iraqi troops were prepared to assume full security responsibilities. The Bush administration is under increasing pressure at home to set a date to begin pulling out the 140,000 U.S. troops.

"We will set no timetable for withdrawal. A timetable will help the terrorists," Talabani said. He said he hoped Iraqi security forces could take responsibility for the country by the end of 2006.

Bush pledged to stand by Iraq despite "acts of staggering brutality" aimed at destabilizing the country.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9332851/

[Cskin]

Seems to me the US/Iraqi offensive in Tal Afar, which has reported killed hundrends of islamofacists and captured hundrends more, has struck a nerve with "Captain Al-Qaeda" in Iraq. Must have lost some friends in the bombings. :laugh:

It should be obvious now to the Iraqi people... especially the Shiites.... that having Al-Qaeda in their country is bad for them. You'd think, at least me personally, that these Shiites would get sick of shoveling up their dead killed by AL-Qaeda and Sunni Islamofacists and root them out of every town within the country.

I mean... isn't it clear now that a little intelligence by the locals can expose these radical murdereres and they can be rounded up and place bullets in their brains? :doh:

Come Iraqi citizens.... stand up and say enough is enough and take your country back from these thugs. Damn!!!! :doh:

[@DCGoldPants]

ugh.

Hopefully this doesn't lean towards Civil War.

[Predicto]

This is in some ways a good thing.

I don't mean the tragic deaths, but the fact that Al-Queda is now opposing all Shiites, not just people who support the Americans. If Al-Queda becomes a Sunni-only group, it loses whatever chance it had to unite the Islamic world in jihad against the west. It cuts Iran out of the mix.

Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting for a thousand years now. I don't know if they can ever stop.

[Bang]

This is in some ways a good thing.

I don't mean the tragic deaths, but the fact that Al-Queda is now opposing all Shiites, not just people who support the Americans. If Al-Queda becomes a Sunni-only group, it loses whatever chance it had to unite the Islamic world in jihad against the west. It cuts Iran out of the mix.

Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting for a thousand years now. I don't know if they can ever stop.

Good point,, a civil war against other muslims is bound to raise some doubts as to their motives in the Islamic world.

I hope.

~Bang

[SkinsHokieFan]

Here is the thing

About 75 percent of the faith worldwide is Sunni.

In fact most Sunni's do not consider Shiite's to even be Muslims and therefore the hope of some sort of interfaith fracturing are dubius at best.

If anything, and I really hope I am wrong on this, Abu is hoping to rally Sunnis across the Middle East to his cause to destroy Shiite's.

[BlueTalon]

I'm wondering why the website is still up. With the hackers we have, I don't know why we couldn't launch a denial of service attack.

And along those lines, I think we chould take out every Al Jezeera facility within missile range the next time they air an Al Qaeda anything. And scramble a few Syrian powerplants the next time we find insurgents just inside the border from Syria.