BAGHDAD, 29 November 2004 — A group led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility yesterday for slaughtering members of the Iraqi security forces in Mosul — where dozens of bodies have been found. The claim raises fears the terror group has expanded to the north after the loss of its purported base in Fallujah.
Meanwhile, insurgents staged attacks yesterday against US and Iraqi targets in Baghdad and in Sunni areas, underscoring the risks of holding national elections on Jan. 30.
Two US soldiers were injured in a Baghdad attack, and another American soldier died yesterday in a traffic accident north of the capital, the military said. US and Iraqi forces killed 17 suspected insurgents in raids south of the capital yesterday, Iraqi police said.
A statement posted on a website in the name of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group led by Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for killing 17 members of Iraq’s security forces and a Kurdish militiaman in Mosul, where insurgents rose up this month in support of guerrillas facing a US-led assault in Fallujah.
The claim could not be independently verified but the style of writing appeared similar to other statements by Zarqawi’s group, which is responsible for numerous car bombings and beheadings of foreign hostages in Iraq.
At least 50 people have been killed in Mosul in the past 10 days. Most of the victims are believed to have been supporters of Iraq’s interim government or members of its fledgling security forces.
Separately, Zarqawi’s group claimed it detonated a car bomb near a US military convoy in the Hamam Al-Alil area, near Mosul. It said the blast destroyed an armored vehicle and damaged another.
Although the claims could not be verified, they raised fears that Zarqawi’s organization has spread to Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city 360 kilometers (225 miles) north of Baghdad. At least 43 suspected insurgents have been arrested as part of an ongoing operation to re-establish control of Mosul, a military statement said.
Zarqawi’s group, formerly known as Tawhid and Jihad, was believed to have been headquartered in Fallujah, the Sunni insurgent bastion 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad, before US and Iraqi forces overran the city this month.
Zarqawi and the city’s two major Iraqi insurgent leaders, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Janabi and Omar Hadid, apparently escaped the onslaught and remain at large. Before the assault, US intelligence officers have speculated that Zarqawi would try to relocate to Mosul if he lost his base in Fallujah.
US and Iraqi officials launched the offensive against Fallujah in hopes of pacifying Sunni areas north and west of the capital so that elections could be held there Jan. 30. Iraqis will select a National Assembly in the first election since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003.
However, Sunni clerics have called for a boycott of the elections to protest the Fallujah assault and the continued US military presence. Sunni politicians have called for postponing the ballot for six months, although the proposal has been rejected by the government and influential Shiite clerical leadership.
In London, Iraq’s deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh, said delaying the election would have “serious ramifications to the political process” and would bolster the cause of the insurgents.
— Additional input from agencies
