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More threats against our forces in Iraq:

Iraq: Ansar al-Sunnah Army Threatens To Hit US Troops With 'Khattab-2' Missile

London: Al-Quds al-Arabi in Arabic 21 Feb 04 p4 [Report by Ahmad al-Masri in London: "'Ansar al-Sunnah Army' Views in Videotape for the First Time Its Operations Against Occupation Forces in Iraq"]

The information department of the Ansar al-Sunnah Army has released its first videotape entitled the "Banners of Truth", a copy of which was viewed by Al-Quds al-Arabi. The video started with footage of the Iraqi people's sufferings and tragedies under the occupation accompanied by Iraqi resistance songs.

Then a member of the army read a statement from the movement's leadership which said: "It is known that the jihad in Iraq has become the individual duty of every Muslim after the infidel enemy fell upon the land of Islam. It was the Sunni people and followers of the ancestors who raised the banner of jihad and acted in groups spontaneously, receiving their instructions from the Book of Allah and the Sunna of His Noble Prophet. They included clerics, shaykhs, and military. The task is great and the situation is momentous that concerns the nation's fate and the defeat of the occupation. The aim does not end with their defeat but with application of the shari'ah of Allah and His Prophet. It is amazing how the honorable Iraqis' blood was shed and then the agents of the Americans came to reap the fruits and apply their secular program so as to take us back to the era of the agent governments of the United States and Israel. Once bitten, twice shy. Because of this, a group of resistance fighters who have experience in the struggle against the infidels from north of Iraq to its south organized themselves on the basis of the shari'ah in the Koran and the Sunna and we called it the Ansar al-Sunnah Army. We call on everyone to join it so as to raise the Word of Allah and obliterate the word of the crusader and Jewish infidels.

We assert that the agents, hypocrites, and renegades will not stand before us and that the battle will be between the soldiers of the Merciful One and the soldiers of Satan. He who fights Allah is defeated.

(Abu-Abdallah al-Hasan Bin-Mahmud, the amir of the Ansar al-Sunnah Army).

Then followed statistics of the number of operations carried out by this army against the coalition forces and their losses up to 6 January 2004 as follows:

685 operations, 1,655 dead, 660 wounded.

This was followed by footage excerpts of more than four masked Ansar al-Sunnah Army fighters armed with antiaircraft SAM-7 missiles and antitank B-7 (RPGs) rockets. Their commander read the following statement:

"Praise be to Allah the Lord of the Universe and prayers and peace be upon the Master of the Messengers. We are a company from the Hanifah Al-Nu'man (May Allah be pleased with him) Brigade in the Ansar al-Sunnah Army. We will strike the US forces with the "Khattab-2" missile."

The tape then presented a number of operations carried out by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army as follows:

1. Spanish intelligence officers killed on 26 November 2003 and the statement: "A squad from the Amarah regiment in Ansar al-Sunnah Army's Al-Mansur Brigade followed and watched two vehicles used by Spanish intelligence officers. An ambush was laid for them in Al-Mahmudiyah sector west of Baghdad. The two vehicles were attacked and seven of the officers were killed immediately. The mujahidin then withdrew safely. The tape then showed photographs of the identity cards and passports of several Spanish intelligence officers.

2. British and Canadian intelligence officers were killed on 5 January 2004 and the statement: "A group of mujahidin laid a tight ambush for two Chevrolet vehicles used by the Canadian and British intelligence in Al-Busaliyah area southwest of Baghdad. The mujahidin succeeded in destroying the vehicles, killing all eight persons in them, and filmed the operations. But as it is their wont, they covered up the operation and did not announce it."

This was followed by footage of the operation and the photographs of some passports and identity cards confirming the identities of those killed.

The videotape then showed some of the American soldiers killed in the US camp in the petrochemical project west of the capital Baghdad and "which the Americans evacuated as a result of the successive Ansar al-Sunnah Army's blows" according to the tape. A mass grave of US soldiers was discovered after they evacuated it. The footage showed photographs of some of those corpses, some of which broke as the Ansar al-Sunnah Army elements dug the graves and pulled out black bags in which these corpses were buried.

Finally, the videotape presented the wills of five perpetrators of recent martyrdom operations as follows:

1. The will of martyr Barwa al-Kurdi who carried out an operation in Mosul's forests area "by blowing up a booby-trapped vehicle in a US troops convoy, killing more than 30 American soldiers and destroying several tanks and armored vehicles", according to the videotape.

The martyr said: "My name is "Barwa" from Arbil, one of the mujahidin of the Ansar al-Sunnah in the "Martyr Yasin a-Bahr" regiment. I am carrying out this martyrdom operation and all Muslims should know that they do not have any excuse anymore for not confronting the infidels while we see the Muslims insulted and humiliated at the hands of these crusaders under the command of the United States whose hands have become covered with the blood of thousands of Muslims. Jihad has become today the individual duty of all Muslims so as to restore the rule of the shari'ah of Allah, praise and glory be to Him. Let the Muslims know that the infidels are weaker than they think and I hope Allah will accept this from me."

2. The will of martyr "Abu-Abdallah al-Dawsari" who bombed the Turkish Embassy building in Baghdad one week after the Turkish Government's decision to send forces to Iraq.

He said in his will: "My brother mujahidin everywhere, what is holding you back from jihad. Remember the words of Allah the Almighty: "The Help of Allah is (always) near." Those who cannot fight the jihad physically can fight the jihad with their money and by praying for their brother mujahidin. I tell the enemies of Allah that no matter how much infidel and tyrannical you become, Allah is lying in wait for you. I embark on this action for the sake of Allah and His Religion. May Allah accept it from me."

3. The will of martyr "Abu-Salih" who "blew up a booby-trapped vehicle in a building belonging to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the agent of the United States, according to the tape, in Kirkuk city north of Baghdad. The bombing killed and wounded dozens of party members. He said in his will: "May Allah bestow glory on Islam and Muslims, humiliate polytheism and polytheists, and destroy the enemies of religion. I will sacrifice every drop of my blood in the cause of Allah and tell Muslims everywhere rebel against the Arab rulers, the traitors and agents. May Allah accept it from me" (as in the videotape).

4. The will of martyr "Abu-Thabit al-Muhajir", who the videotape said carried out an operation in Mosul that killed and wounded dozens of Americans. He said in his will: "To the Arab rulers who claim to be Muslims and who have changed Allah's shari'ah, I tell them that I am innocent of you and be warned o you brokers of the West: We are coming and will trample you underfoot. To all the mujahidin, continue and we are with you until we get back Al-Aqsa and Andalusia and know that victory comes with patience and the jihad in the cause of Allah."

5. The will of martyr "Abu-Hafs al-Najdi" who blew up the booby-trapped vehicle at the Interior Ministry building in Arbil, north Iraq, killing 30 persons and wounding more than 600.

He said in his will: "The balances have been upended. The enemy of Allah who is fighting Allah and the religion of Allah and occupied the lands of Muslims has become a friend. To all the sultan's clerics, o you clerics of evil, you have caused a great sedition. Fear Allah for your own sake. To the Muslim nation's youths, I advise you to prepare for the jihad. The banner of paradise has been raised, battle has commenced, and the houris have adorned themselves. The religion of Allah is calling you, will you listen."

http://cobalt.carebridge.org

News from a couple of weeks ago. But posting so that we do not forget the threat. When these non religious murderers hit it will not be when we expect it.

Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight

Intelligence reveals dry runs of new threat to blow up airliners

Jason Burke, chief reporter

Sunday February 8, 2004

The Observer

Islamic militants have conducteddry runs of a devastating new style of bombing on aircraft flying to Europe, intelligence sources believe. The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air, have been tried out on planes flying between the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe, security sources say.

Concerns that militants might assemble a bomb or another weapon on board were a key factor in the series of recent cancellations of transatlantic flights. Last weekend British Airways stopped flights from London to Washington and Miami for fear of an attack and Air France also cancelled scheduled flights.

Security agencies are now hunting scores of militants who have been trained in the new tactics. The warning, passed to Western agencies by Middle Eastern intelligence services, is based on interrogations of Islamic militants captured in the Arabian Gulf and is corroborated by intercepted communications between terrorist cells and interviews with prisoners held by the US government at Guantanamo Bay.

Officials in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere are believed to have warned that at least 12dry runs may have been completed and to have said that the terrorists are aiming to try out their plans on flights around the Mediterranean and the Middle East before attempting to bomb a transatlantic route, where security precautions are now very tight. Militants know that individual components are far easier to smuggle through airport security than an assembled bomb.

In May 2002 nearly 100 grammes of pentrite, a plastic explosive used by the alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid, was found hidden in the armrest of a Moroccan jet when it landed in Metz, France. At the time, investigators said they thought it had been put there as a warning. Now French officials suspect the explosives were placed on the jet as a trial of the new tactics. Though some investigators fear they may be the victim of deliberate 'disinformation', officials say that they cannot riskignoring the warnings.

Ali Abd Rahman al-Ghamdi, alleged to be one of the masterminds of a suicide attack that killed 35 in Riyadh last May, is thought to have revealed the new tactics after giving himself up to Saudi authorities weeks after the blast. Shortly after the cap ture of al-Ghamdi, who is believed to be close to senior al-Qaeda figures, the US government's Transportation Security Administration issued an urgent memo detailing new threats to aviation and warning that terrorists in teams of five might be planning suicide missions to hijack commercial airliners, possibly using common items carried by travellers, such as cameras, modified as weapons. The CIA said that a high level of threat was based on information from several incarcerated high-ranking militants.

An FBI bulletin last November was more specific. It warned that 'terrorists are considering the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) assembled on board to hijack an aircraft or, alternatively, destroy it over heavily populated areas in the event of passenger or crew resistance.

'Components of IEDs can be smuggled on to an aircraft, concealed in either clothing or personal carry-on items such as shampoo and medicine bottles, and assembled on board.

'In many cases of suspicious passenger activity, incidents have taken place in the aircraft's forward lavatory.'

Analysts say that although the threat of a 'spectacular' attack on the West still exists, most strikes by Islamic militants will be onsoft targets in areas where security is lax. Last weekend suicide bombers killed 109 people and wounded hundreds more in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. A radical Islamic group has published claims of responsibility for a string of attacks in Iraq on a website run from the UK.

The Islamic Observation Centre, run from London by the Egyptian dissident Yasser al-Sirri, posted a statement, from 'the Ansar al-Sunnah Army' on its site last week, saying that the group was behind the Mosul attack.

The Ansar al-Sunnah Army is linked to the Ansar ul-Islam organisation which is believed to have launched a series of bomb attacks in Iraq in recent months, killing scores of Iraqis, aid workers and coalition personnel. Yesterday senior American officers said they were tracking the group.

'We are certainly going to follow up on the claims of responsibility,' said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the US command in Iraq's deputy chief of operations. Many of the strikes have targeted local Iraqis who have co-operated with the US-led coalition authorities.

Two versions of the claim have been posted by the IOC. One threatens further attacks on 'collaborators'.

'While claiming responsibility for this heroic operation, we tell every agent who has put himself at the service of the occupier that the fate waiting for you will be much worse if you do not repent,' the statement said. The group say that the claims of hundreds of civilian casualties in the strikes are 'lies'.

A second statement, signed by the 'emir' of the group, Abu Abdullah al-Hassan bin Mahmud, calls the attacks a 'heroic deed against ... the people of Kurdistan who opened their arms for the Americans and their army'.