In an audio recording purportedly made by al-Qaeda-linked militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and found online yesterday, assassination threats are made against Iraq's interim prime minister and it is promised that the fight against "infidels" will continue "until Islamic rule is back on earth."
"As for you [Iyad] Allawi ... the democratically elected prime minister ... you don't know that you have already survived traps we made for you. We promise you that we will continue the game with you until the end," the online recording said.
"We will not get bored until we make you drink from the same glass that Izzadine Saleem tasted," the recording said.
Saleem, a former Governing Council president also known as Abdel-Zahraa Othman, was killed May 18 in a car bombing in Baghdad.
"You [Allawi] are the symbol of evil and the infidel nation; you are the source of all traitors," the recording said.
Allawi heads an interim government that is to take over at the end of June.
"We will carry on our jihad against the Western infidel and the Arab apostate until Islamic rule is back on earth," the voice said.
There was no way to authenticate the recording, but the voice sounded like that of al-Zarqawi.
The Jordanian terror suspect is believed to have ties to al-Qaeda, and groups associated with him have claimed responsibility for a number of bombings and attacks in Iraq, most recently Tuesday's beheading of South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il.
After news of the beheading and the discovery of Kim's body, US forces launched an airstrike in Fallujah on what it said was a safehouse used by followers of al-Zarqawi. Three people were killed and nine wounded in the strike, said a doctor at Fallujah hospital
But on the recording, the voice purported to be al-Zarqawi said he was not in Fallujah.
"I am like a tourist in Iraq. I move around the country staying with my family and brothers," he said.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person