Free Republic

Al Qaeda's brutal killing of Egypt's top envoy in Baghdad — overshadowed as it was by Thursday's savage London bombings — may yet serve a grimly useful purpose if it finally awakens the rest of the Muslim world to the fact that it can't stay on the sidelines in the War on Terror. Ihab al-Sherif's murder was announced Thursday, five days after he was kidnapped and pistol-whipped by terrorist mastermind Abu Musad al-Zarqawi's thugs. Al Qaeda, which most likely beheaded him, boasted he had suffered "the judgment of God" because his government is allied with "Jews and Christians." Just two...

CAIRO, Egypt - Iraq's top terrorist may have achieved something more significant than scaring away Arab diplomats when he ordered the abduction of Egypt's top envoy to Baghdad -- and then claimed to have killed him. The crisis may have sown the seeds of distrust between Iraq's Shiite-led government and Egypt -- an Arab powerhouse whose goodwill Iraq needs. It also underlined the unease with which the Arab world has watched political developments in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, who like most Arabs is Sunni. Before al-Sherif was apparently slain, Iraq's government had suggested the diplomat was partly...

Just heard on FoxNews

Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a web posting today that it had killed Egypt’s top envoy in Iraq, showing a video of the blindfolded diplomat identifying himself. The video did not show his death. A statement purportedly from al-Qaida said it delayed claiming responsibility for the Saturday abduction of Ihab al-Sherif “to be able to capture as many ambassadors as we can”. The claim of responsibility was posted on Tuesday following kidnap attempts against top diplomats from Pakistan and Bahrain in a campaign to isolate Iraq’s US-backed government in the Arab and Muslim world. “We announce in the name of...

Baghdad, 7 July (AKI) - Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group headed by Jordanian miliant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on Thursday claimed it had killed Egypt's diplomatic envoy to Iraq who was kidnapped five days ago. Video footage showing Ihab al-Sherif being interrogated appeared on an Internet site together with a statement announcing the execution of the envoy, who was snatched in Baghdad on Saturday.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Kidnappers of Egypt's top diplomat in Iraq threatened to kill him because Egypt has allied with "Jews and Christians," according to a statement posted today on an al-Qaida-linked Web site. Al-Qaida's religious court decided to hand over Ihab al-Sherif to its fighters "to carry out the punishment of apostasy against him," said the statement on the site associated with al-Qaida in Iraq. Under Islam, apostasy, or changing religion, is punishable by death. The statement was ominous because al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been responsible for beheading several foreign hostages, including American Nicholas Berg....

BAGHDAD (AP) Insurgents mounted attacks against Arab and Muslim diplomats in Iraq on Tuesday, wounding Bahrain’s top envoy in a kidnapping attempt. Pakistan’s ambassador also escaped an assault on his convoy. The attacks came three days after gunmen seized Egypt’s top envoy to Iraq as he was buying a newspaper in the capital, appearing to signal an insurgent campaign to discourage Islamic countries from bolstering ties with the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. Al-Qaida in Iraq purportedly claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the Egyptian diplomat, Ihab el-Sharif. “We, the al-Qaida in Iraq organization, announce that the Egyptian ambassador has been kidnapped...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq is ready to accept U.S. help in investigating the killing and kidnapping of government officials, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday after a surprise visit amid tight security. The informal agreement covering the criminal investigations came after Gonzales met with Iraq's prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, as well as police and judicial officials during a six-hour visit to the Iraqi capital. Word of the arrangement followed the abduction on Saturday night of Egypt's top envoy to Iraq — an apparent bid to discourage the country's Arab neighbors from bolstering ties to the embattled U.S.-backed government. Ihab...

Egypt's ambassador to Iraq has been kidnapped in Baghdad, according to a source in the Egyptian embassy there. The source said Ihab al-Sherif was abducted near his home on Saturday. The Egyptian Embassy was sealed off by security forces. The ambassador had just arrived in Iraq in June and was the first to represent an Arab country in post-war Iraq. Al-Sherif had not yet formally presented his credentials to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales arrived in Baghdad Sunday on a surprise visit, officials at the U.S. Embassy confirmed. The officials said Gonzales would meet with...

CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt's (search) first ambassador to post-Saddam Hussein Iraq has been kidnapped in Baghdad just a month after arriving in the country, Egyptian diplomats said Sunday. Two diplomats, speaking in Cairo and Baghdad on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Ihab al-Sherif was kidnapped late Saturday in the Iraqi capital. Al-Sherif had arrived in Baghdad on June 1.