IRAQ: The group led by al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said it beheaded two Iraqi soldiers in broad daylight in Mosul, a statement found on an Islamist website yesterday said.
"They were both slaughtered in Mosul in front of a large group of people," the statement by al-Qaeda Organisation of Holy War in Iraq said. The claim, dated November 18th, could not be immediately verified. "Just when the enemies of God thought they would crush us with their tyrannical military campaign in Falluja . . . the al-Qaeda organisation in Iraq slaughtered two National Guards on Thursday afternoon," the statement said, adding the men killed were at the rank of major and lieutenant.
US and Iraqi troops this month launched a campaign to crush insurgents in the rebel town of Falluja.
The US military says it has taken control of the city, but the offensive has fuelled violence across Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland, especially in Mosul in the north. Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for hostage beheadings and some of Iraq's bloodiest suicide attacks.