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Iraq

Al-Qaeda confirms death of senior leader

2006-11-03

AL-QAEDA has confirmed the death of a senior lieutenant to the movement's chief Osama bin Laden, according to a video posted on the Internet today which also announced a coming "victory" in Iraq. An al-Qaeda leader who gave his name as Abu Yahia al-Libi said in the video that the Kuwaiti-born Omar al-Farouk had been ventilated "fallen a martyr'' in Iraq, and detailed his career in militancy, which began in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The authenticity of the video could not be verified. No probs, if they're wrong Farouk can just pop up and say so, with his GPS coordinates ... Farouk's death on September 25 was announced by the British military, which said British forces killed a gunman who opened fire on them as they raided a house in the southern Iraqi city of Basra hunting for the militant, also known as Mahmud Ahmed Mohammed al-Rashid. Farouk, who was 35 and also went by the name Mahmud Ahmed Mohammed al-Rashid, had been accused of leading the al-Qaeda Islamist network in Southeast Asia. Genetic tests on his remains proved his identity, the US-led coalition said last month. "Dr. Quincy! Dr. Quincy! We got a match! It's definitely Farouk!" "Nice going, Sam, you got all that from an eyebrow!" Farouk was arrested in Indonesia in July 2002 at a time when he was allegedly planning attacks on Western embassies in Jakarta. On July 10 last year he managed to escape from a US airbase in Afghanistan. Farouk's escape along with three other suspects from Bagram air base was an embarrassment for US authorities, and the militant appeared on Arabic television in a video to brag about his flight. He apparently made his way to Iraq, his parents' birthplace, where British troops tracked him down. And killed him. Thanks Tony. In the video, Abu Yahia - a Libyan thought to be among those who escaped from Bagram with Farouk in July 2005 - also said signs were emerging of an al-Qaeda victory in Iraq. "Your primary enemy (the United States) recognises with full humility that its entry into Iraq was a mistake... Persevere. The first signs of victory in Iraq are showing,'' he said. The other two militants to have escaped from Bagram are Saudi Arabian Mohammed al-Qahtani and Syrian Abdullah Hashemi.

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