|
|
|
news
headlines
Bomb
in Iraqi Kurdistan kills boy, 4, wounds two others: police
Bahceli: Barzani's Statement Is Unacceptable How Kurdistan's first suicide bomber changed his mind Interrogations link Al Qaeda to Iraq Two hundred Iraqi Kurdish immigrants land in southern Italy Turkey, Iraqi Kurdish Tensions High Jalal Talabani Interview with Asharq Al-Awsat Iraqi Kurd Fighters Seen More Organized Iranian troops deployed on Iraqi border: Kurds Saddam's son says Iran not al-Qaeda behind Kurdistan Islamist group KDP Slams Berlin Embassy Seizure as "Terrorism" Barham Salih: The Radical group Ansar al-Islam Plans Attacks Talabani Wants US Date for Post-Saddam Poll U.S. Monitors Kurdish Extremists raq orders banks to be opened in Kurdistan Saddam will not stop me being a Kurd
|
Iraq Kurd said to admit bin Laden link LONDON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Mala Krekar, the leader of a Taliban-like Iraqi Kurdish group, has admitted to links with Osama bin Laden, according to an Iraqi Kurdish newspaper report Wednesday. Kurdistani Nuwe reported that in an interview recorded last November, Krekar, whose real name is Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, admitted he had met the head of al Qaida network during visits to Afghanistan. The paper, affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan that controls the eastern part of Iraqi Kurdistan, quoted Ahmad as saying, "I have visited many countries and met Islamic thinkers like Osama bin Laden and his right-hand man Ayman al Zawahiri who are true, faithful Muslims." Krekar said members of his Ansar al-Islam, or Supporters of Islam, were proud of the jihad they made in Afghanistan, referring to resistance there to the Russian occupation that ended in 1989. Krekar attracted international attention last week when he headed back to Iraqi Kurdistan from a visit to his family in Norway. Although he had an entry visa from the Iranian Embassy in Oslo, he was not allowed to land at Tehran airport. He then sought to return to Norway but was refused entry there, too. Krekar ended up in the Netherlands where he is being held in a high-security prison. Jordan has asked for him to be extradited to face drug trafficking charges in Amman and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft reportedly has discussed Ahmad with his Dutch counterpart, Piet Hein Donner. According to Iraqi Kurdish authorities, Mala Krekar set up his revolutionary Islamist group in the mountains on the Iraqi frontier with Iran at the beginning of September 2001. The Kurds believe that as well as having been funded by al Qaida, the group gets support from Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad and has been receiving supplies from Iran. Western and Kurdish analysts suggested that the reason Iran refused Krekar entry was to try and persuade the United States that it was cracking down on Islamist terrorists. Ansar is estimated to number some 500 fighters of which about 120 are said to be Arabs who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan or belonged to al Qaida there. Soon after their arrival, Ansar members reportedly killed more than 40 PUK militiamen they had taken prisoner, allegedly slaying them with daggers in front of villagers. In February 2001,
secular Kurdish authorities say, Ansar, then known as Jund al Islam (Soldiers of
Islam), killed Fransu Hariri, the most prominent Christian political figure in
Iraq. Earlier this year the Jund/Ansar attempted but failed to assassinate
Barham Salih, prime minister in the PUK area.
|
