Zarqawi edges Iraq closer to civil war, and continues on his path of identifying cooperation with the Americans and the Iraqi government with Islamic apostasy. From Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed 114 people in a crowd of Shi’ite laborers in the bloodiest of a wave of attacks in Baghdad, and a statement attributed to Iraq’s al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi declared war on Shi’ites.
A total of more than 150 people were killed in Wednesday’s violence and the suicide bombing was the second deadliest single attack since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the start soon afterwards of an insurgency by Sunni Arabs….
Zarqawi said his declaration of war on Iraq’s majority Shi’ite Muslims was in response to the offensive mounted by U.S. and Iraqi forces against insurgents in the town of Tal Afar near the Syrian border, according to an Internet audio tape….
“Al Qaeda Organization in Iraq … has declared war against Shi’ites in all of Iraq,” said the voice on the audio tape, sounding like that on previous recordings attributed to Zarqawi. No immediate verification was available.
“As for the government, servants of the crusaders headed by (Iraqi Prime Minister) Ibrahim Jaafari, they have declared a war on Sunnis in Tal Afar. You have begun and started the attacks and you won’t see mercy from us,” the voice said.