Posted on 04/02/2003 12:40:30 AM PST by kattracks
Yemeni volunteers in Iraq vow suicide attacks
By Hassan Hafidh
BAGHDAD, April 2 (Reuters) - A group of Yemeni volunteers in Iraq vowed on Wednesday to launch suicide attacks against invading U.S. and British troops.
Waving assault rifles and chanting Islam's rallying cry of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest), 35 Yemenis in military uniform marched to the Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad where foreign journalists are staying.
"I am a martyrdom attacker from Yemen. I came here to liberate Iraq from the invading forces of imperialist America and Britain," Sharkad Qasim Ali, 17, told reporters. "I ask all honest Arabs to come and join us to defend Iraq against these invaders."
An Iraqi army officer killed four U.S. soldiers in a suicide bombing in central Iraq on Saturday, the first such incident of the war.
Baghdad says that more than 6,000 Arab volunteers have arrived in Iraq in recent weeks. It said half of them were would-be suicide bombers who would step up attacks on U.S. and British forces.
Anti-American sentiment has been running particularly high in Yemen, a poor Arab state seen in the West as a haven for Islamic militants, including members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Militants believed to be linked to al Qaeda have staged a series of attacks against Western targets in Yemen over the past three years, including the 2000 suicide bomb attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole and the October 2002 bombing of the French-flagged supertanker Limburg.
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan on Tuesday urged Arab groups to send volunteers to Iraq to fight along with Iraqis against the U.S. and British forces instead of sending relief aid.
"The people of Iraq don't need food and medicine as they have plenty of it, they need fighters to join them fighting the aggressors," he said.
President Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party is secular and has traditionally been hostile to Islamic fundamentalists, but Saddam has appealed to fellow Muslims in the fight against the United States and has long championed the Palestinian cause.
Saddam on Tuesday called on all Arab and Muslim people to launch a holy war (jihad) against Western forces in Iraq.
The Yemeni group that marched on Wednesday appeared ready to take up the call.
"We came here to stand with our Iraqi brothers against the enemies of Islam and to defend our believer leader Saddam," another Yemeni volunteer said in English. "What is (U.S. President George W.) Bush? He is nothing but a criminal."
04/02/03 03:41 ET
What was it that Rummy said -- If they want to be martyrs, we'll be happy to accomodate them.
"Somebody go back and get a s***load of dimes".
Go for it! Right now the 3rd ID is pounding through the karbala gap as I type this. Go ! Scream out Osamas name as you blow yourself up against an M1A1. Schmear yourself across a Bradly, run under a few cluster bomblets, try to run a road block, you'll be ripped in 2.
There is ample opportunity for suicide attacks in Iraq, the thing is, the whole Iraqi army have been engaging in suicide attacks for more than a week. Every one of their attacks against our troops have been suicidal for them.
Why doesn't the media report the dead of the Baghdad Division as a "suicide attack by the Baghdad division" ?
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