As Al-Qaeda in Europe created havoc in London, Al-Qaeda in Iraq carried out a murder of its own. An update on this story from CBC:
A website operated by Al-Qaeda in Iraq said Thursday the militant group had killed Egypt’s top envoy in Iraq.
Gunmen seized Ihab al-Sherif in western Baghdad on Saturday. A threat to kill him appeared on a website on Wednesday.
The site now carries a statement claiming a death sentence had been carried out.
“We announce in the al-Qaeda in Iraq that the verdict of God against the ambassador of the infidels, the ambassador of Egypt, has been carried out. Thank God,” the statement said.
We murdered a man, thank God!
The site also showed a video of the diplomat wearing a blindfold and identifying himself. It does not show him being killed.
Iraqi and Egyptian officials have not confirmed the website’s claim.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by the Jordanian Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, had suggested it would behead al-Sherif. It wrote this week on its website that it had a “sharp sword against the infidels’ ambassador.”
The attack on the Egyptian envoy was the first in a series of attacks on diplomats from Arab countries. Gunmen this week shot Bahrain’s envoy in the hand. In a separate incident, the Pakistani ambassador’s motorcade was attacked.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq promised to attack the representatives of more nations supporting the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad.
“We vow to all the dictatorial nations that Iraq is not safe for infidels because God has empowered the mujahedeen,” the website said Thursday…