Posted on 09/13/2004 4:20:30 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
Members of Shura Council of Mujahedeen show US army’s remote-controlled drone that they shot down in Fallujah, Iraq, on Sunday. (AP Photo)
US military has reported no such loss near the embattled Iraqi city.
“In proud Fallujah, thanks be to God, a spying American plane was shot down,'' said a statement signed by the Tawhid and Jihad group and posted on the Internet on Monday. The message's authenticity could not be confirmed, but it appeared on a Website known for carrying statements by Islamic militant groups.
Tawhid and Jihad is linked to the al-Qaeda terror network and led by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It claimed responsibility for the series of attacks on US and Iraqi government targets on Sunday, one of the heaviest days of fighting in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein last year.
On Sunday, a previously unknown group, the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen (holy warriors) in Iraq, claimed to have shot down a US. Marine drone near Fallujah in a video tape broadcast on Al-Arabiya satellite television.
Neither claim said when the drone was downed.
The US military has not reported the loss of any drone in Iraq in recent days. But Associated Press Television News filmed people dancing in Fallujah's streets on Sunday, holding what appeared to be pieces of an aircraft bearing the word “Marines.''
The US military did not provide any information.
In its Monday statement, Tawhid and Jihad boasted that it fired about 400 rockets at 50 targets on Sunday, when at least 60 people died in Iraq – 37 in Baghdad alone.
Some of the casualties were inflicted when a US helicopter fired on a crowd cheering around a disabled US armoured vehicle in Baghdad.
“For the first time, there was no failure in the firing or targeting of any rocket, which is a precedent, thanks be only to God,'' the message said.
The statement hailed Sunday's offensive as a “blessed battle'' that “humiliated the infidels.'' It took responsibility for attacks in Fallujah and Ramadi, two cities west of Baghdad.
Tawhid and Jihad, which means monotheism and holy war, has been at the forefront of the opposition to the U.S.-led forces in Iraq and has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and beheading of several foreigners.
US authorities consider its leader, al-Zarqawi, to be an ally of al-Qaida commander Osama bin Laden but say he runs his own terrorist operation.
Bump.
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