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.
That little thing could move, too, considering it had 1 inch wheels.
Yes it is a UAV. Yes, various models of UAV's can deliver ordinance onto a specific target. Yes, they can track the target, provide real-time video of the target and be manuevered onto the target. A carload of Al Quieda's were taken out last year as they attempted to make the border fleeing out of Iraq....BOOM!
not certain but looks small to me.... i know the predator is kind of large... you can look the specs up online.. i.e wingspan..
delta house: fat, drunk and fanatical is no way to go through life
Leave it to the AP to blow this fully out of proportion!!
It's a DRONE! BIG DEAL!!!
But of cours the headline
"Al-Qaeda group [claims it] downs US remotely controlled drone "
probably isn't shocking enough for the AP
BLAWLWAWAW!!!!!!!!
HOOK LINE AND SINKER!!
I hope the tiny pilot got away.
The AP is spinning the story to imply a pilot was shot down with a spy plane.
Bush is a pilot
Thus the AP is trying to imply Bush was shot down
Subliminal Propaganda. Hitler would be proud.
Looks to be in awfully good condition..
And the dissembling freaks at AP should be ashamed of themselves ... "spy plane" sort of implies a U2, or EP3, or JSTARS, or some such ... not a freakin' tactical drone with a five foot wingspan. Bah!
Yup. And the guy with the Benz that got nailed by one was played by none other than KGO Radio's Bill Wattenburg.
Bet that drone circled the city hours just trying to grab attention. :)
The recovery team has been instructed to try not to step on him.
My mistake re:the terrs taken out...here is the brief on that one from Janes:
Yemen drone strike: just the start?
By Craig Hoyle, JDW Aviation Editor, London and Andrew Koch, JDW Bureau Chief, Washington, DC.
The US Central Intelligence Agency's airstrike against six suspected Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen on 3 November has again demonstrated the Predator unmanned air vehicle's (UAV's) transition from a surveillance drone to a hunter-killer asset. The mission saw a CIA-operated RQ-1 Predator destroy a civilian vehicle after launching a Hellfire air-to-surface missile at the target around 160km east of the Yemeni capital, Sana'a.
US officials had indicted one of the six men as being involved in the October 2000 attack on the US Navy destroyer USS Cole off Yemen, in which 17 US sailors were killed.
So do I. His motherboard must be very concerned ...
So where is the tracking device or the self destruct?
BOOM
Someone should tell AP that a drone is not a "spy plane". Hopefully, I'll never live to see the day when these yahoos can down something like a U-2 or SR-71.
Yes, there's confirmation that he got out OK....
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