A website published an alleged demand
by suspected Al Qaeda leader Abu Mussab al Zarqawi on
Tuesday for Japan to withdraw its troops from Iraq or
face attack, then just hours later ran a statement in
which he supposedly denied making the demand.
Neither of the statements, on Islamic
website http://www.ansarnet.ws/vb/, could be verified.
The first message, purportedly signed by the Khalid ibn
Al-Walid Brigade, the military wing of Zarqawi’s
Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Unification and Holy War) group and
addressed to the Japanese government, said: “Do
it as the Philippines did.”
“We never forgive anyone who supports
Iraq, where you came not to help the Iraqi people but
to protect the Americans. You will know the same fate
as the Americans and others” killed in Iraq, the
message said. The statement also warned Arab and Islamic
countries against “sending forces to Iraq to support
American forces and the invasion” of the country.
It singled out Pakistan, Jordan, Turkey, Iran, Gulf Arab
states, other Middle Eastern countries, and Indonesia
and Malaysia. “For the last time, we warn that we
will strike with force all those who support the Americans,
(Prime Minister Iyad) Allawi and his group,” it
added. “In the event of sending Arab and Islamic
troops, we will not remain without a reaction. We swear
that we will fight them more than the Americans.”
The group recommended that Arab and Islamic
soldiers disobey any order to deploy to Iraq, otherwise
“car bombs are waiting for you”. But the second
statement, purportedly issued by Tawhid wa al-Jihad’s
“information department,” called the first
message a “lie”.
