DUBAI, 8 November 2005 — Militants loyal to Al-Qaeda in Iraq threatened to sharply intensify their campaign of violence unless US and Iraqi forces end a major offensive near the Syrian border, in an Internet statement posted yesterday.

The statement also promised to destroy the homes of all Iraqi soldiers and government employees in response to recent comments by Defense Minister Saadun Al-Dulaimi warning that those who sheltered insurgents in their homes would be considered targets.

“The organization has decided to give the apostate government and its (US) master 24 hours to end their campaign against the Sunni people. After that they will only see from us the worst and something that’s going to make the earth tremble under their feet,” warned the statement signed in the name of spokesman Abu Maisara Al-Iraqi.

At least one US marine and 17 alleged Al-Qaeda fighters have been killed since the launch of operation Steel Curtain on Saturday against suspected insurgent hide-outs in the town of Husyaba close to the Syrian border.

The latest Al-Qaeda statement, whose authenticity could not be independently verified, warned all those who support the offensive.

The group, headed by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, also vowed to destroy the homes of Iraqi soldiers and government employees but spare their wives and children.

Meanwhile, at least one US Marine and 17 alleged Al-Qaeda fighters were killed as US and Iraqi forces yesterday moved house-to-house in their fight to take control of a town near the border with Syria.

Around 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and 2,500 US troops launched the sweep in Husayba in an attempt to flush Al-Qaeda fighters from the region.

The operation is aimed at preventing foreign fighters from entering the country.

“While conducting clearing operations in Husayba, (the marine) was killed by enemy small arms fire,” the military said yesterday. The marine’s death brings to at least 2,047 the number of US military personnel who have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally based on the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent group that follows US casualties in Iraq.

The US military said Sunday that in addition to the 17 suspected insurgents who have been killed since Steel Curtain began, “many more are suspected of being killed, but coalition forces haven’t been able to confirm those numbers yet.”

US and Iraqi soldiers are “clearing the city, house by house, as the Al-Qaeda in Iraq-led insurgents continue to plant improvised explosive devices throughout the city and fire on the marines and Iraqi soldiers,” the military said.

In Amman, Saddam Hussein’s defense lawyers yesterday called for his trial to be moved abroad to protect their lives after growing threats since the murder of a colleague.

A defense lawyer who requested anonymity told Reuters moving Saddam and his aides abroad was the only way to protect the defendants and their lawyers, adding “the growing intimidation and threats against them will never allow the trial to be fair”.