An al-Qaeda spokesman has claimed responsibility for this week's deadly Baghdad hotel bombing, as South Korea joined Spain and Poland in rethinking troop commitments to Iraq. "Al-Qaeda's lions, who are experienced in destroying the seats of Russian leaders and are in Iraq to encounter their enemies, planned and carried out this operation," said Abu Mohammad al-Ablaj, in charge of al-Qaeda training.
| That would appear to coincide with reports we've seen that Zarqawi may be importing Chechen boom boys to do his dirty work. |
South Korea said it had cancelled plans to send troops to northern Iraq because of security concerns and was considering deploying them to other parts of the country. "The United States and South Korea have agreed that it is inevitable to change the location for South Korean troops as the security situation in Kirkuk has become worse," the defence ministry said. "The two countries agreed to reconsider a possible location putting the whole of Iraq under review." |