A little known Islamist group has pledged allegiance to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Washington's most wanted man in Iraq, according to a statement posted on the Internet on Tuesday.
The group calling itself the Brigades of Islamic Anger said it had joined al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq "in response to the orders of God and his Prophet to seek unity and to intimidate God's enemies".
"We have pledged allegiance (to Zarqawi), to hear and obey, for good and bad and never to rest or resign. We are going ahead on the path of jihad (holy struggle), never to abandon jihad or fighting until God's laws rule the country and the people," the Arabic-language statement said.
A group calling itself the Brigades of God's Anger said last August it kidnapped two relatives of interim Iraqi Defence Minister Hazim al-Shaalan and demanded that U.S. forces leave Iraq's Shi'ite holy city of Najaf. It was not immediately clear if it was the same group.
In a separate statement, a previously unknown Islamist group calling itself the Brigades of Abu al-Yaman al-Madaeni said its fighters operating in Salman Pak area, southeast of Baghdad, also had pledged allegiance to Zarqawi. |