The group led by suspected al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has said it carried out an attack in Iraq last week that killed five U.S. soldiers and two Iraqis. "On Thursday one of the lions of Islam from the 'martyrs' squadron' entered a citadel of the American forces and the so-called National Guard in Samarra, completely destroying it," the statement from Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad Group said.
| Every time they say stuff like "lions of Islam" I squirt coffee out my nose... |
The statement, posted on an Islamist Web site Sunday, said the Jordanian-born militant's group pounded U.S. and Iraqi forces with mortars when they rushed to the scene, and claimed a much larger death toll than that given by U.S. officials. The U.S. Army said Thursday that five U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi guards were killed in a mortar attack on the Iraqi National Guard headquarters in Samarra, north of Baghdad. It said 18 U.S. soldiers and four Iraqi guards were also wounded in the attack, in which mortar fire severely damaged the National Guard building, which is also used by U.S. troops. |