Qaeda vows to avenge death of leader
Dubai,
Oct
2:
An
Iraqi
al
Qaeda-led
group,
the
Islamic
State
in
Iraq,
announced
in
a
statement
posted
on
the
internet
the
death
of
senior
leader
Abu
Usama
al-Tunisi
and
swore
revenge
for
his
killing
by
coalition
troops
last
week.
US army officials said coalition forces killed al-Tunisi, a Tunisian whose group kidnapped and killed two US soldiers in June 2006, in an air strike today south of Baghdad.
''We announce to the Islamic world and to all fighters the martyrdom of our leader and fighter Abu Usama al-Tunisi,'' the group said in the statement posted on a militant Web site late on Monday.
The group hailed Tunisi as one of their best and oldest fighters who led major ''battles'' in the ''Triangle of Death'' south of Baghdad and in Fallujah, where U.S. troops engaged in fierce fighting with the insurgents last year.
''Oh Usama, The war is continuous between us and them (coalition forces) and we will get them and we will fight them, we lately tore apart their bodies.'' US Army Brig Gen Joseph Anderson described al-Tunisi on Friday as one of the most senior leaders in Al Qaeda in Iraq, and described his death as a significant blow to the insurgents' operations.
Reuters
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