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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Where in the world is Shaker al-Abssi?

2007-09-12

The elusive leader of Fatah al-Islam, an al-Qaida inspired terrorist organization, allegedly ~~ran like a Nancy boy~~ fled the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp ~~in a burqa~~ in northern Lebanon a day before its fall into the hands of Lebanese army eight days ago.

In addition, Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza said in a statement that a DNA test on a body suspected to be that of militant leader Shaker al-Abssi proved it was not his. The finding countered earlier reports by al-Abssi's wife, who had identified a body in a hospital as her husband's. Mirza also said that a recently captured Fatah Islam militant had told authorities that al-Abssi fled the camp the night of Sept. 1.

I keep asking, who identified her as his wife?

Al-Abssi's wife, his daughter, and also a Palestinian Muslim cleric who mediated between the army and Fatah al-Islam during the battles, had identified a body in a Tripoli hospital morgue as al-Abssi's. But authorities took samples from al-Abssi's daughter and also his brother in Jordan, for conclusive DNA testing. "The result (shows) the corpse in the hospital morgue in Tripoli does not belong to the suspect Shaker al-Abssi," Mirza's statement said.

"We're glad he's dead, whoever he is, but we wanted Shaker," the statement added.

But in Jordan, al-Absi's older brother, Abdul-Razak al-Absi, blasted Lebanese authorities' testing and claimed the militant leader was indeed dead. "These people don't know how to carry out DNA tests, it's wrong, my brother is dead," al-Absi's eldest brother said in a telephone interview. "My brother's body was identified by his wife, his daughters and five Muslim scholars who knew him, so how can he be alive?" the brother told The Associated Press.

I'm sure there's someone at the AP gullible enough to believe that ...

Asked if he had recently heard from al-Abssi or if he was intentionally hiding knowledge of the militant leader's whereabouts, the brother said: "Enough is enough, I'm not lying, they're the ones who are confused and are trying to say unrealistic things."

Mirza said that two days ago a Yemeni citizen identified as Nasser Mohammed Yahya Shiba, 24, was arrested in the Minyeh region north of the camp. He testified that he had left Nahr el-Bared with al-Abssi and three other militants shortly before midnight Sept. 1. "Shaker al-Abssi was in good health, wearing an explosive belt and carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle, magazines and hand grenades," Mirza's statement quoted the Yemeni suspect as saying. The Yemeni added that he ran behind and lost the others, hid in a deserted house and was only captured after he sought food from a nearby house, according to the statement.

Al-Abssi, a Palestinian linked to the late leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had not been seen or heard from since early in the Nahr el-Bared fighting. In 2004, a Jordanian military court sentenced al-Abssi to death in absentia, along with al-Zarqawi, for their roles in the 2002 slaying of a U.S. diplomat in Amman. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike a year ago.

Posted by:Fred

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