After a video posted on the Internet showed a masked gunman shooting three bullets into the head of a Turkish hostage, the Turkish truckers' union said Monday hat it would stop bringing supplies to U.S. forces in Iraq, bowing to terrorist demands in hopes of saving two other captive Turks. Also Monday, Iraq's top Shiite condemned as "hideous crimes" the co-ordinated bomb attacks on five churches in Baghdad and Mosul that killed 11 people and marked the first major attacks on Iraq's minority Christians since the insurgency began. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani said in a statement that Sunday's assaults on Christian churches "targeted Iraq's unity, stability and independence."
The videotape, posted on an Islamic Web site used by extremist groups, shows a man identified as a Turk kneeling in front of three armed men. The man reads a statement in Turkish, identifying himself as Murat Yuce from Ankara. He says he works for a Turkish company that subcontracted for a Jordanian firm. "I have a word of advice for any Turk who wants to come to Iraq to work: 'You don't have to be holding a gun to be aiding the occupationist United States. ... Turkish companies should withdraw from Iraq." At the end of the statement, one of the men takes out a pistol and shoots the Turk in the side of the head. The Turk slumps to the ground, and the kidnapper shoots him in the head twice more. Blood is seen on the ground next to his head. A black banner on the wall behind the kidnappers identifies the group as the Tawhid and Jihad, which is led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist linked to al-Qaeda. It was not clear when the video was posted or when hostage was killed; his name did not match those of the two Turkish truck drivers kidnapped by Tawhid and Jihad last week.
The head of Turkey's International Transportation Association, Cahit Soysal, said Monday that by agreeing to stop working with U.S. forces in Iraq, Turkish truckers hope the kidnappers will free the two other drivers. He said trucks carrying supplies not destined to the U.S. forces would not be affected. Turkish trucks mostly transport fuel and jet fuel to the U.S. troops, an official from the group said. Mr. Soysal said 200 to 300 Turkish trucks had been bringing supplies to U.S. forces in Iraq daily, among the many vehicles crossing the border with goods for the military and contractors involved with Iraqi reconstruction. Many of the more than 70 foreigners abducted by terrorist have been truck drivers, more vulnerable to attack than heavily armed troops. |