Thursday, 7, July, 2005 (30, Jumada al-Ula, 1426) Al-Qaeda Threatens to Kill Egypt's Envoy Reuters BAGHDAD, 7 July 2005 An Al-Qaeda death sentence hung over Egypt's hostage envoy to Iraq yesterday as the new Iraqi government appealed to embassies not to desert Baghdad after a series of attacks on senior diplomats.
Egypt's Ihab Al-Sherif, snatched four days ago, appeared to have fallen into the hands of Al-Qaeda's Iraq wing when it issued photographs of his personal documents. The group, which has beheaded previous captives, then issued a statement on a website entitled "Sharp sword against the infidels' ambassador". "The Shariah court of Al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq has decided to hand the apostate, the ambassador of Egypt, which is allied to Jews and Christians to the mujahedeen to ... kill him," said the group, led by Jordanian Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi. Many Sunnis finally joined the process of drafting a new constitution when their delegates took part in a committee session in Parliament. It revealed substantial divergences in opinion with the Shiites and Kurds who dominate the legislature, officials said. There was no immediate reaction to the Al-Qaeda statement from Cairo or the Iraqi government, which earlier renewed criticism of Ihab Al- Sherif's decision to venture out alone on Saturday to buy a newspaper, allowing gunmen to grab him and drive him away. Al-Qaeda threatened further violence against diplomats. As Pakistan's ambassador arrived in neighboring Jordan following an ambush on his motorcade in Baghdad the day before, Iraq's three-month- old government appealed to other foreign missions to stand by it in its hour of danger. "The terrorists are targeting not only Iraqis, although it is happening inside Iraq," Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari told reporters. "We hope all countries will stand beside us, to bolster the democratic process and continue to carry out their political work in Iraq, mindful of security procedures." The Shiite-led government and its US sponsors have been pressing other Muslim states, mostly run by Sunnis, to give it full recognition by upgrading missions to full embassy status. Egypt's Sherif was abducted days after Iraq said Cairo was about to do just that Egypt has not confirmed such a move. Many Arab governments are suspicious of Jaafari's support from Washington and his sectarian ties to non-Arab Shiite Iran. The Gulf state of Bahrain, whose envoy was wounded in what officials called a kidnap bid as he drove to work on Tuesday, promoted the diplomat to ambassadorial rank but added that this did not necessarily change the status of its Iraq embassy. As Pakistan's ambassador to Iraq flew in to run his Baghdad staff from the Jordanian capital Amman, Jordan itself said it would soon send a top envoy back to Iraq: "Despite the recent attacks ... we are in the final stages of sending an ambassador," Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Al-Muasher said. Iraq's Interior Minister Bayan Jabor said the government has "a plan to protect diplomats after these incidents". He gave no details and said some diplomats were lax over security. Unlike embassies of the United States, Britain and other countries that helped invade Iraq in 2003 which are housed in the fortified Green Zone government compound the missions that have been attacked rely on their own security in the city. In separate incidents that may have also targeted diplomats, Moscow said two Russian Embassy armored cars were shot at on Sunday and a bomb went off near Iran's Embassy on Tuesday. Washington, which has 140,000 troops pinned down in Iraq, hopes Iraqi government can undermine the revolt among Sunnis by drawing them into peaceful politics following the failure of many of them to vote in the Jan. 30 election. Meanwhile, 13 people were killed and 30 wounded late yesterday in two almost simultaneous car bombings in Mashruh, some 60 kilometers south of the Iraqi capital, police said. Lt. Ali Al-Shumari of the Mashruh police said the bombs exploded within about three minutes of each other near a car market. The latter blast came as rescue workers were arriving at the scene. Thirteen of the wounded were in serious condition, a hospital source said. Copyright: Arab News © 2003 All rights reserved. Site designed by: arabix and powered by Eima IT Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
