Zarqawi group 'tried to kill Shiite leader'
From correspondents in Dubai
December 29, 2004
A GROUP led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi today said it had tried to kill Iraqi
Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and warned of more attempts on his life,
according to an Internet statement.
"On Monday, a lion from the martyrs' brigade of the Qaeda Organisation of Holy
War in Iraq launched an attack on one of the apostates and traitors. Hakim, we
tell you that if the arrow has failed to strike you, there are other arrows in
our pouch," the statement said.
Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI),
survived a suicide car bombing yesterday, which killed 13 people and injured
53.
He heads a Shiite list expected to dominate next month's election, and is
likely to play a major role in Iraq's future.
Zarqawi's group also claimed in web statements today an assassination attempt
on an Iraqi general, but distanced itself from an earlier attack on the
Jordanian embassy in Baghdad.
"A lion from the martyrs' brigade of the Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in
Iraq attacked the house of the apostate head of the National Guard," one
statement said.
But the group said in another statement that it was not responsible for a fuel
tanker explosion near the Jordanian embassy, which killed nine people. The
attack appeared to have been a suicide attack on the embassy.
An audio tape purportedly from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, which
al-Jazeera television aired yesterday, backed Zarqawi as the network's leader
in Iraq and urged Muslims to wage holy war on US forces and the government in
Iraq.
Reuters
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