| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Al-Zarqawi claims responsibility for Samarra attack that killed five U.S. soldiers, Iraqi guards |
| 2004-07-12 |
| WXXA-TV Albany, NY 7-12-04 BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A militant group linked to Jordanian terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility Sunday for a recent attack on a military headquarters in Samarra that killed five U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi National Guardsman. The claim by al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad movement, which was posted on a Web site known for being a clearinghouse for such statements, claimed that dozens of Americans and hundreds of Iraqis died in Thursday's assault. The U.S. military has said insurgents detonated a car bomb and then fired mortars at the building used jointly by the 1st Infantry Division and Iraqi guardsmen. "One of the lions of the martyrs' brigade, entered the building and destroyed it completely, plus six Hummers, including those who were inside them, thank God," the al-Zarqawi group said in its statement. As soldiers tried to escape from the building, "the soldiers of God were waiting for them and rained those who came with mortar shells," the statement said. The accuracy of the group's account could not be verified. Iraq has been torn by a persistent insurgency since the fall of Saddam Hussein more than 14 months ago. On Saturday, U.S. Marines clashed with guerrillas taking cover at a taxi stand in a stronghold of support for Saddam's ousted regime, killing three people and wounding five, military and hospital officials said. Insurgents clad in black attacked the Marines in the city of Ramadi, a hotbed of anti-coalition sentiment. U.S. forces returned fire, blasting the stand into a twisted pile of molten metal. Blood pooled on the asphalt. At least one child was wounded in the crossfire. The deaths came the same day four U.S. Marines died in a vehicle accident while conducting security operations in an area of western Iraq, the U.S. command said Sunday. The Marines were killed in Anbar, a Sunni-dominated area west of the Iraqi capital that includes Ramadi, Fallujah and Qaim on the Syrian border. They were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. North of the capital, insurgents blew up three liquor stores in Baqouba on Saturday, prompting concern that Islamic militants may be trying to impose their strict interpretation of Islam there, witnesses said. The blasts killed a passing taxi driver, said Dr. Nassir Jawad from Baqouba General Hospital. Also in Baqouba, insurgents detonated two roadside bombs Saturday as a U.S. patrols passed. Two soldiers and one civilian were wounded in the two incidents. All were evacuated to a combat hospital. Meanwhile, the fate of captured Filipino worker Angelo dela Cruz remained unclear. His captors demanded that the Philippine government withdraw its 51-member force from Iraq by Saturday or dela Cruz would be beheaded. Another 4,100 Filipinos work as key contractors on U.S. bases. A spokesman for Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the country's small peacekeeping contingent would be withdrawn as planned when its stint ends Aug. 20, though no decision had been made on whether to send replacements. Later, officials in the Philippines said dela Cruz was about to be freed. But a diplomat familiar with the talks in Baghdad remained cautious, and the Al-Jazeera television station, which broadcast the original tape showing dela Cruz surrounded by armed men, said it received a statement Saturday night from the group denying he had been freed and calling him a "prisoner of war." "We are still negotiating," a diplomat familiar with the talks said Sunday. "We don't to derail the process of negotiation." In the statement, the group called itself the Iraqi Islamic Army-Khaled bin Al-Waleed Corps and gave the Philippines an extension until Sunday night, according to Al-Jazeera. In a video aired earlier Saturday on Al-Jazeera, the hostage urged his countrymen not to come to Iraq. "I advise you not to come to Iraq because there are a lot of problems, and the Iraqi police won't be able to protect you, like what happened to me," he said, according to the announcer. Meanwhile, Bulgaria expressed hope that two Bulgarian truck drivers also kidnapped by militants were still alive. Al-Zarqawi's group threatened to kill the men if the United States did not release all Iraqi detainees - an ultimatum that has expired. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi suggested Saturday that the men were still alive, though he warned the information was "unconfirmed." President Bush telephoned Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov on Saturday to discuss the hostage situation. Bush offered to assist but refused to negotiate with terrorists, the White House said. Parvanov affirmed Bulgaria's strong commitment to Iraq. Elsewhere, insurgents slashed the throat of a translator working for American forces in the northern city of Kirkuk, the latest in a series of assaults on professionals supporting the multinational forces here. The body of Hewah Omar, 28, was dumped by the side of a river flowing through the middle of the city. "His throat was cut by a knife, and he was stabbed in the chest seven times," said police Col. Sarhat Qader. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |