Posted on 11/26/2004 5:00:29 PM PST by decimon
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Four Nepalese nationals who once served with Britain's elite Gurkha army regiment were killed and 12 wounded Thursday in a rocket attack on Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone, their employer said.
The attack, one of the deadliest on the central Baghdad compound which houses the nation's key institutions, was claimed in an Internet statement by the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sunna militant group.
London-based security firm Global Risk Control said the four were killed and another 12 wounded in a rocket attack on one of its sites.
"All fatalities were former Gurkhas as are all the casualties, each of them contributing towards the post-conflict reconstruction effort taking place in Iraq (news - web sites), in which Global is working extensively alongside the Iraqi administration and other organisations," it also said.
In a statement posted on the Internet and dated Thursday, Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Valiant jihadis... on Thursday afternoon launched 10 Grad rockets that exploded in apostate and infidel areas, causing violent explosions," the statement said.
The attack targeted an Iraqi government meeting following the return to the capital of the "infidel" Prime Minister Iyad Allawi "from the conference of vile agents in Sharm el-Sheikh", the statement said.
An international conference on Iraq's future wound up in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday.
In October, five people were killed, three of them US contractors, when bombs were set off inside the Green Zone, in what remains the deadliest attack to date to have hit the strategic compound.
In August, 12 Nepalese workers in Iraq held hostage by militants were killed by their captors for allegedly helping US forces, triggering a violent backlash against the minority Muslim population in the Hindu kingdom of Nepal.
Their brutal execution was claimed by the same group, Ansar al-Sunna, and their bodies were never recovered.
London-based Global Risk Strategies is one of the largest private security firms operating in Iraq, with more than 1,000 employees, including former SAS and other recruits from Nepal and Fiji, among other countries.
Gurkhas from Nepal have served in the British Army since 1815, when they impressed officers with a valiant defence of their home nation against British invasion.
Gurkhas have fought with great distinction in virtually every war involving British troops since then. Around 3,600 currently serve with British forces, with a number taking lucrative private security work after they leave.
Bidur Pakhrin, a recently retired Gurkha soldier who is vice chairman of the British Gurkha Welfare Society, said that at a "rough guess" 100 or more ex-Gurkhas were working for security firms in Iraq.
He added that some Gurkha soldiers were also serving in British army units deployed in Iraq, but could not estimate how many.
These terrorists really don't want to mess with Gerhkas. As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to bet that nobody will be able to hold them back. They will get their revenge and it won't be pretty.
There are no x-Gurkha's..you either are or you aren't.
They are providing the first line security in a lot of US secure locations.
Including the American Club here in Singaore.
So9
And they are much more skilled in the use of their knives.
Gurkhas are most needed at home in Nepal
..."..."Valiant jihadis... on Thursday afternoon launched 10 Grad rockets that exploded in apostate and infidel areas, causing violent explosions,"...
Rockets sent, once again, with the blessings of the "see no evil" Iraqis who passively allow 10 rockets to be transported to their neighborhood, assembled in their neighborhood and launched from their neighborhood. But, no one saw nothing.
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