Al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq claimed responsibility Saturday for the kidnapping of the Algerian charges d'affaires in Baghdad in a statement posted on a Web site frequently used by Islamists.
The group, headed by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said in the statement that it abducted Ali Balarousi, head of his country's mission in Iraq. It did not mention administrative attache Azzedin Belkadi who was kidnapped along with Balarousi on Thursday.
The statement railed against Algeria, saying it was merely "another state rushing to satisfy the Crusaders," referring to the US in particular and the West in general.
"Algeria dispatched an envoy although we had warned earlier against doing so and had made good on our warning with the Egyptian ambassador and the attempt to kill the Bahraini ambassador," the statement said.
It said that the abduction showed that "Iraq is under the control of the mujahideen."
The incident followed the kidnapping and killing of Egypt's head of mission to the country earlier this month and a subsequent failed attempt to abduct a Bahraini envoy.
Insurgents consider the dispatch of Arab diplomats to Baghdad approval for the presence of multinational forces in Iraq.
The statement's use of "ambassador" for the envoys relates to rumors that the Egyptian diplomat had become the first Arab ambassador to take up residence in the Iraqi capital since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.
However, the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs has repeatedly said that Ihab al-Sherif's position at its mission was as charge d'affaires. His body has not yet been found.
Meanwhile, three US soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb exploded while their vehicle was passing through an industrial area east of Fallujah on Saturday, witnesses reported.
US forces promptly sealed of the neighborhood and arrested three suspects, according to witnesses. The US military did not confirm the incident.
In Khalidiya, 80km west of Baghdad, witnesses said gunmen attacked a US convoy in Al-Madhiq region early Saturday, setting a vehicle on fire.
US troops then cut off the road to Jordan and Syria, and also raided a number of nearby houses, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, the special tribunal in charge of reviewing crimes attributed to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein will seek the death sentence for Saddam and a number of his associates, an influential Iraqi newspaper said Saturday.
The Al-Sabah daily quoted sources at the tribunal as saying it would shortly seek capital punishment for Saddam and a number of his senior aides. Saddam's trial is not expected to begin before the autumn.
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