Al-Qaeda in Iraq on Friday threatened to kill people who vote in the war-torn nation’s election and imposed a self-declared curfew during polling hours when millions are to cast ballots.
The Islamic state of Iraq, the al-Qaeda front in the country, in a statement two days ahead of today’s vote said anyone who defies the curfew would “expose himself to the anger of Allah and … all kinds of weapons of the mujahidin.”
The group, which has previously threatened to sabotage the poll and claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed hundreds in Iraq, delivered its warning after a series of suicide bombings left dozens dead.
“The Islamic state declares … a curfew on election day … from six in the morning until 6pm, throughout Iraq and especially in Sunni areas,” US monitors SITE quoted it as saying in an Internet statement.
“For the safety of our people, any of those who learn of this, report it to those who do not know and supply yourself with needs for the curfew,” it said in a translation of the message that was posted on jihadist forums.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the al-Qaeda front, had already threatened last month to disrupt the election by “military means.”
The group’s latest statement came with voting already under way for Iraq’s estimated diaspora of 1.4 million in 80 cities in 16 countries.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said later voting was going well and that Washington would follow through with its plan to withdraw its troops from Iraq in less than six months.
Religious leaders used Friday prayers to order citizens to vote and safeguard democracy in the second parliamentary election since the ouster of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in a US-led invasion in 2003.
“You must go to the voting centers because it is your duty,” said Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Jorani, Sunni imam at the Al-Hai mosque in the central city of Baqubah, where 33 people were killed in three suicide attacks on Wednesday.
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