 THE US has designated the Iraqi insurgent group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi a "foreign terrorist organisation" and slapped on sanctions, a day after it claimed responsibility for deadly twin attacks in Baghdad's Green Zone.
| Seems like the sort of thing they should have done with the first boom, certainly at least with the first head that came off... |
At the same time, US and Iraqi troops hunting Zarqawi encircled the rebel city of Fallujah as residents protested that Iraq's most-wanted man was not there. The hunt meanwhile continued for Zarqawi, who on Thursday claimed two bombs that ripped through Baghdad's once-impregnable Green Zone, home to the US embassy and Iraqi government, killing at least five people. More than 1000 US and Iraqi ground troops formed a ring around Fallujah after blistering air strikes overnight that left at least eight people dead. They "have taken up vehicle checkpoints ... with the purpose of channelling anti-Iraqi forces through these main points of passage, identifying and detaining them", marine spokesman Lieutenant Lyle Gilbert said. He refused to say if marines would enter the city.
| It's supposed to be a surprise... |
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