 | Looks like poor old Zarq is titzup... |
A Web site statement posted Thursday and signed in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq said the militant group has appointed a deputy to take the lead until Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who's purportedly been wounded, returns.
| "He's resting now. Looks very... ummm... natural." |
The statement's authenticity could not be verified.
"Bob, could you verify that statement?"
"Right, chief! I'll hop on the next Airbus out, fly to Soddy Arabia, find the head chopper who wrote it, and ask him if it's true!"
"That sounds pretty expensive. Let's just add a sentence that it can't be verified!" |
"The leaders met after the injury of our sheik, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ... and decided to appoint a deputy to take the lead until the return of our sheik," said the statement, which was posted on a militant Web site that two days earlier announced al-Zarqawi had been injured. It identified Abu Hafs al-Kurani as "deputy of the holy warriors." The new statement said that al-Kurani "was known for carrying out the hardest operations, and our sheik would choose him and his group for the tough operations."
"C'mon, Kurani! Into the barrel!"
"But... But... It's all full of blood!"
"Mahmoud! Hose the barrel out for our new sheikh!" |
The statement again urged Muslims to pray for al-Zarqawi, saying: "We will go on in our way of Jihad until victory or martyrdom and we call upon Muslims to pray for the Mujahedeen and for the safety of our sheik." It was signed off in the name of Abu Doujanah al-Tunisi of the media committee of al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Tunisi was not a familiar name signing off such statements. |