![]() [Iraqi Prime Minister's office via Getty Images] Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced the deaths of Iraq's top terrorists. |
"We consider today to be the announcement of al-Qaeda's death certificate," said Samir Adnan, a Baghdad resident, when news broke out that al-Qaeda's two top leaders were killed.
Iraqis were glued to their television sets on Monday (April 19th), watching Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hold pictures showing the dead bodies of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri and the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.
"After this blow, al-Qaeda is now at its weakest state," al-Maliki said. "When al-Qaeda bleeds and their leaders fall in this way, all their contacts, information, networks are within our reach."
Al-Masri, who succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after he was killed an in airstrike in 2006, was directly responsible for many bloody bombings that target civilians in Iraq. The killing is considered a devastating blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Information from terrorist leaders in custody led security personnel to a house in the area of Thar-Thar in Salah a-Din province where the two leaders were hiding. During the operation, Iraqi forces came under heavy fire, prompting them to launch an air strike on the house, killing both terrorist leaders and their aide.
According to al-Maliki, Iraqi forces found computers used by al-Qaeda members to communicate with other terrorist members around the world, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, according to al-Maliki.
Based on information obtained during the operation, security forces deployed to other areas across Iraq and "started hitting the targets," al-Maliki said.
"However, we must be more careful and watchful, and continue stepping up operations," he added during the Baghdad press conference.
"The operation also led to the arrest of most of the military leaders who were planning a major criminal act over the past two days targeting a large number of churches," al-Maliki added.
Gen. Mohammed al-Askari, spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, said that the "intelligence-based operation is a source of pride for the Iraqi forces and the peak of their heroic acts."
Al-Askari added that Iraqi forces had formed intelligence cells known as "High-Profile Arrest Units," whose mission is to trace and arrest al-Qaeda leaders.
"Precisely one month ago, these cells managed to arrest five important leaders in al-Qaeda who later provided important and critical tips, including the whereabouts of the two leaders of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq," he said.
"The past month has been a golden month in terms of military achievements for Iraqi forces," al-Askari added. "There are other operations that we will announce, including the arrest or killing of other terrorist leaders."
Meanwhile, Iraqi citizens received the news with great joy. Many of them went out to the streets to celebrate in cafés and public areas.
"This is beautiful and delightful news," said Muayyad Ali from Baghdad.
"This is a year of achievements for Iraqi forces," he added. "We are waiting for the day in which we get rid of the remaining rotten heads."
"This is good news for all the Iraqi orphans and widows. We are expecting more achievements from the Iraqi forces," said Zaid Abbas, a resident of Najaf.
Whoever joins Al-Qaeda is a [offensive].
Benevolent and honorable religious scholars in Iraq have not given terrorists the opportunity to violate the dignity of Iraq and its Muslim youth and to discredit them, as in some countries where terrorism has flourished and found support from religious scholars and youth. But in Iraq, the situation is quite different, because the Iraqi citizens, religious scholars and politicians are all aware and educated, and know the real meaning of terrorism and how it should be fought. It is true that there are some ignorant people that fell prey to terrorism and joined its organization. However, these people do not represent Iraq as a whole. If Iraq were as terrorists want it to be, we would see complete havoc from north to south. However, religious scholars were swords cutting the heads of terrorists and eradicating their ideology. They managed to prevent young people from joining this dirty terrorist organization after exposing its true objectives and what their leaders aim to attain. This infidel criminal organization is making use of Islam as a system that represents Islam , but the truth is that there is no relation whatsoever between the ideology of this organization and the constructive ideas of Islam. In fact, Islam wants to achieve the wellbeing of all communities, and to have peace and safety as the main foundations for life on Earth.
Terrorists committed many crimes in Iraq. They displaced many families that had been in hard living conditions. They could not afford to flee, and they could not work. All they had was a small house, most of the time rented. In the best cases, it was their only property. Terrorists came suddenly and ordered them to leave the region and to move to another region. They left no time for these families to prepare themselves. These displacement operations left families in an ordeal. They became refugees in the refugee camps provided by international or governmental organizations, where they suffered from cold and heat; that’s why their children suffered from various diseases, especially due to the polluted water and the absence of potable water. Women, children and patients lacked medical care. These factors helped to destroy these families. Their suffering increased when they witnessed that the government offered nothing to compensate them, such as small amounts of money in order to help them run a small business, or to afford another house and leave the camps. The Iraqi government must compensate displaced families, whether they are Shiites or Sunnis, because they have shared the same experience, and faced the same difficulties, due to the terrorists and their viperous ideology, which called for the destruction of Iraq, of its people, and of the fraternal bonds linking the different Iraqi sects.
The continuous selective strikes against Al-Qaeda, which it has recently received, are important, and have a considerable impact on the structure of this terrorist organization and its presence in Iraq. The arrest of some leaders of this organization, such as the so-called Wali of Baghdad, is a testimony to the evolution of the intelligence services of the Iraqi security forces. These bodies now resort to selective strikes against the organization and its leaders, because such heroic operations will necessarily weaken and dismantle the organization, eventually leading to its collapse and the capture of most of its leaders. Arresting a leader will lead to more arrests in this criminal organization, by getting the confessions from him, and being in the leadership position he is in, he is acquainted with the methods of this organization: how they move, their whereabouts, how they smuggle explosives, booby-trap cars and other methods used to obtain the money to carry out their dirty activities in Iraq. Thus, they can take advantage of this information to capture terrorists, to put an end to terrorism and its funding sources, and to develop security capabilities by finding out the tactics employed by terrorists in their activities.
To hell… Those brainwashed groups have killed many people, but divine justice will end their evils sooner or later… Indeed, they are the leaders of donkeys laden with explosives, killing children and women. They are a group of liars, who trade in religion and marry four women and own slave girls. They only care about their own interests and empty leadership.
Praise be to Allah, who saved us from the killers who take the lives of innocent Iraqi people. God willing, the Iraqi people and all the Arab and Muslim peoples will rise up and prosper. Amen.
O people, we all know that this is not the first time they have announced the death of Abu Ayyub al-Masri and the arrest of Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi. I am a loyal Iraqi citizen and I wish that this were true, but I am afraid this is another game, part of the Iraqi political propaganda. We are fed up with this situation.
To Hell. Good riddance Egyptian.
Al-Qaeda's regular sources of funding seem to be disappearing after the death of Osama bin Laden an...
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