Militant groups in Iraq urge attacks over cartoons
Reuters Posted online: Sunday, February 05, 2006 at 1811 hours IST
Ramadi, Iraq, February 5: Militant groups on Sunday called for attacks on Danish troops in Iraq and people from all countries where cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad have been published.
In an Internet statement, the Islamic Army of Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for killing foreign hostages, urged militants to kidnap Danes and "cut them into as many pieces as the number of newspapers that printed the cartoons".
"The Islamic Army in Iraq also declares that all countries whose newspapers printed the insulting and disgraceful pictures are legitimate targets and our response will be ... tremendous."
In the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, a group calling itself the military wing of the Army of the Right handed out leaflets during a demonstration, saying it would attack Danish and non-Muslim targets in Iraq.
"We call on all fighters in the resistance to reactivate their military activities and the first target of the upcoming attacks should be Danish troops," said the leaflets, handed out among about 1,000 protesters. Denmark has more than 500 troops in Iraq.
"All people from religions other than Islam must stop their religious rituals in churches and other places of worship because of their assault on Islam and Muslims," it added.
"We demand that all clerics in Arab countries issue fatwas(religious edicts) against foreigners and to shut all embassies."
Uproar over the cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper and were then reprinted in a number of other European countries, has swept across the Muslim world. One depicted Prophet Mohammad with a turban resembling a bomb.
The Islamic Army in Iraq said: "We also call for targeting companies that deals with these countries and any store that sells Danish and Norwegian products." The statement was published on a Web site often used by Iraqi militant groups.
