Militant group threatens death for al-Zarqawi
Wednesday, July 7, 2004 Posted: 2:06 AM EDT (0606 GMT)
Group in Iraq threatens to kill terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A previously unknown militant group in Iraq is
threatening to kill the most-wanted terror suspect in that country: Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi.
The Arabic-language TV network Al-Arabiya said it received a taped statement
from an organization that calls itself the Rescue Group warning al-Zarqawi and
his followers to leave Iraq or face the consequences.
One masked militant read a statement denouncing the actions by al-Zarqawi and
his followers as hurtful to Iraq, particularly the kidnapping of foreigners.
The group has called for the killing of the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi if he
doesn't leave Iraq.
Coalition officials blame al-Zarqawi for dozens of attacks on coalition forces
and Iraqi civilians. The United States recently raised the bounty on his head
to $25 million.
Al-Zarqawi is also believed to be behind the beheading of two hostages in Iraq,
an American and a South Korean.
Meanwhile, the brother of a U.S. Marine who has been taken hostage in Iraq
asserted Tuesday that Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun has been freed.
Sami Hassoun, speaking from Tripoli, Lebanon, said there is clear "sign" that
his brother is "alive" and has been "released." (Full story)
Four Marines killed
Four Marines were killed Tuesday in Anbar province, Iraq, a coalition press
statement said.
The statement said the Marines were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary
Force.
Earlier, the Coalition Public Information Center said two Marines from the same
unit were killed in action Monday in Anbar province. Another Marine who was
wounded during operations in the province later died of his injuries.
Anbar, which runs to the Syrian and Jordanian borders, is a hotbed for Iraqi
insurgents and includes the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah.
The Marine deaths bring the total number of U.S. troops who have died in the
war to 872. The total number of multinational forces to die in the war now
stands at 989.
The new interim government is working to find ways to fight back against the
insurgency.
A 12-point Iraqi national security plan in the works would increase detention
powers and the ability of the prime minister to mobilize the country's armed
forces.
Also, a NATO official is conducting a fact-finding tour in Iraq to see what
kind of military and police training help it can provide to the government.
Meanwhile, officials said eight people died Monday in a U.S. air raid on a
Fallujah house that American commanders said was used to harbor Islamic
militants.
A senior U.S. military official said the target was a group of people suspected
of planning suicide attacks using vehicles.
The strike was the latest in a series of raids on the city to target what U.S.
military spokesmen have called safe houses for the network led by al-Zarqawi.
A doctor at Fallujah Hospital said the dead included four men, a woman and
three children, some of them members of the same family. Another three people
were wounded, the doctor said.
Blair: WMD may never be found
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday that weapons of mass destruction
may never be found in Iraq, but he insisted former leader Saddam Hussein had
posed a threat to "the wider world."
"We know that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and we know that
we haven't found them," Blair told a committee of British lawmakers Tuesday.
"I have to accept we have not found them, that we may not find them.
"But what I wouldn't accept is that [Saddam] was not a threat and a threat in
WMD terms."
Blair and President Bush used Iraq's alleged weapons program as a main reason
for invading the country. So far the Iraq Survey Group, which is in charge of
the hunt for illicit weapons, has yet to turn up any stockpiles.
The British leader said evidence uncovered by the group showed that Saddam had
the "strategic capability" and intent to use such weapons.
"Whether they were hidden or removed or destroyed even, the plain fact is that
he was in breach of United Nations resolutions," Blair said.
Other developments
Iraqi security and U.S. forces detained two members of a suspected terrorist
group Tuesday in sweeps through a neighborhood in Mosul, northern Iraq, that
also uncovered bomb-making materials, machine guns and electronics equipment, a
statement from the American-led military coalition said.
Also Tuesday, Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi reported losses in the
country's power supply during the past three days and blamed the problem on
insurgent attacks on pipelines and fuel trucks.
Soldiers of the U.S.-led multinational force fired on a vehicle that did not
stop at a checkpoint late Monday in western Baghdad, killing a child and
wounding another, the Coalition Press Information Center said. The statement
said soldiers fired "after the driver failed to obey verbal and visual
instructions to stop, switched off the vehicle lights, and forced guards out of
the way as he attempted to bypass the checkpoint." Iraqi police questioned the
children's father, the press center said, and the mother was taken to a
hospital with the wounded child. Iraqi police are investigating.
CNN's Jane Arraf and Ingrid Formanek contributed to this report.
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