- Reaction score
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- Points
- 410
Make women soldiers slaves, says Iraqi sheikh
By Oliver Poole
(Filed: 08/05/2004)
British troops in Iraq faced new dangers yesterday as an aide to the leader of the radical Mahdi army called on followers to capture women soldiers as slaves and Osama bin Laden placed a bounty on soldiers‘ heads.
Sheikh Abdul-Satter al-Bahadli, delivering a sermon at a Basra mosque with an assault rifle by his side, called on supporters to launch a jihad against British troops in the southern city.
Waving documents and photographs which he claimed were of three Iraqi women being raped at British-run prisons, he said $350 ( £195) would be given to anyone who captured a British soldier and $150 for killing one.
He told the 3,000 worshippers that anyone who captured a woman soldier would be allowed to keep her as a slave. Al-Bahadli is a close adviser to Muqtada al-Sadr, head of the Mahdi army which is at the centre of fighting in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
The sermon is the first time that a leading anti-coalition Shia leader has offered a financial reward for the killing or capture of troops.
The specific targeting of women is being interpreted as a reaction to the photographs taken at Abu Ghraib prison which show female soldiers humiliating Iraqi detainees.
A British spokesman said the threat was "very worrying" and was being closely monitored.
A message that the CIA believes came from Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qa‘eda terrorist network, put a price in gold for the killing of any British and American troops as well as leading officials.
The statement posted on an Islamic extremist website promised 10,000 grams of gold - around £67,000 - to anyone who killed Paul Bremer, the American chief administrator in Iraq, his deputy, or Gen John Abizaid, the commander of American forces.
A similar price was placed on Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, and Lakhdar Brahimi, his special envoy in Iraq.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/08/wirq108.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/05/08/ixnewstop.html
By Oliver Poole
(Filed: 08/05/2004)
British troops in Iraq faced new dangers yesterday as an aide to the leader of the radical Mahdi army called on followers to capture women soldiers as slaves and Osama bin Laden placed a bounty on soldiers‘ heads.
Sheikh Abdul-Satter al-Bahadli, delivering a sermon at a Basra mosque with an assault rifle by his side, called on supporters to launch a jihad against British troops in the southern city.
Waving documents and photographs which he claimed were of three Iraqi women being raped at British-run prisons, he said $350 ( £195) would be given to anyone who captured a British soldier and $150 for killing one.
He told the 3,000 worshippers that anyone who captured a woman soldier would be allowed to keep her as a slave. Al-Bahadli is a close adviser to Muqtada al-Sadr, head of the Mahdi army which is at the centre of fighting in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
The sermon is the first time that a leading anti-coalition Shia leader has offered a financial reward for the killing or capture of troops.
The specific targeting of women is being interpreted as a reaction to the photographs taken at Abu Ghraib prison which show female soldiers humiliating Iraqi detainees.
A British spokesman said the threat was "very worrying" and was being closely monitored.
A message that the CIA believes came from Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qa‘eda terrorist network, put a price in gold for the killing of any British and American troops as well as leading officials.
The statement posted on an Islamic extremist website promised 10,000 grams of gold - around £67,000 - to anyone who killed Paul Bremer, the American chief administrator in Iraq, his deputy, or Gen John Abizaid, the commander of American forces.
A similar price was placed on Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, and Lakhdar Brahimi, his special envoy in Iraq.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004. Terms & Conditions of reading.
Commercial information. Privacy and Cookie Policy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/08/wirq108.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/05/08/ixnewstop.html
