BAGHDAD, 3 August 2004 — Hooded gunmen executed a kidnapped Turkish truck driver yesterday, but there was no word on the fate of a group of seven, including three Indians, held hostage for over a week.
In a spine-chilling video footage, posted on a website, Murat Yuce was shown being lectured, blindfolded and shot in the head. As his body slid forward, the executioner shot him twice more in the head.
News of the execution prompted Turkish truckers to stop ferrying goods to US forces in Iraq. “In today’s conditions there is no security for drivers in Iraq. Until security can be guaranteed, we have stopped transporting goods for US forces,” Cahit Soysal, head of the International Transporters’ Association (UND), said in Ankara. The group represents around 40 companies.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said Yuce had been kidnapped by Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi’s group, Tawhid wal Jihad.
The Kuwaiti employer of the seven truck drivers called on the Iraqi mediator who has been negotiating their release to resume talks with the kidnappers, and said the men were in good health the last time the company heard about them.
The mediator, tribal leader Sheikh Hisham Al-Dulaymi, said Sunday that negotiations broke down and there was no longer contact with the hostage-takers. His comments came hours after the company, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company, said the truckers from India, Kenya and Egypt would be freed within a day.
“We really want him to... convince kidnappers of the latest solutions we arrived at,” company spokeswoman Rana Abu-Zaineh said. “We still don’t have any news about resuming negotiations.”
She declined to say what led to the breakdown of talks, or what the company has offered for the men’s release.
Iraq accused Zarqawi of carrying out coordinated car bombings on Sunday at churches that killed at least 11 people.
“There is not a shadow of doubt that this bears the blueprint of Zarqawi,” said National Security Adviser Mowaffaq Al-Rubaie, adding the militants wanted to spark religious conflict.
A group calling itself the Planning and Follow-Up Organization claimed responsibility for the bombings. “You wanted a crusader war, so these are the results... We warned you,” a statement posted on a website said.
Muslim leaders including top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani condemned the car bombings. In a statement, Sistani condemned the blasts as “grotesque crimes” and said Iraqi minorities had to be protected.
Adnan Al-Asadi, a senior member of the Shiite Dawa Islamic party, added that Muslims shared the pain of the Christians. “We reject these criminal acts which want to create religious and sectarian strife in Iraq,” he said.
In the central city of Najaf, US troops surrounded the home of wanted Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, sparking brief clashes in which a woman was killed. US armored vehicles, backed by Iraqi security forces, cordoned off the Al-Zahra neighborhood where Sadr’s home is located at around 7 p.m. About an hour later, US troops and Iraqi forces withdrew.
Meanwhile, Ukraine gave another strong hint that it planned to reduce or withdraw its 1,600 troops from the country. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency that he planned to discuss the politically charged issue with the former Soviet republic’s security council in the coming weeks.
— Additional input from agencies
