Sunni/Shi’ite Jihad Update: “US security plan will ‘crush Sunnis,'” from AAP, :
THE leader of an al-Qaeda-backed Islamist body in Iraq urged followers to be ready to confront a US-backed security plan in Baghdad, saying it was an Iranian ploy to hit Sunni Muslims, an Internet statement said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced a major security plan for Baghdad on Saturday, vowing to crush illegal armed groups “regardless of sect or politics” – suggesting he may be ready to tackle militias loyal to his fellow Shi’ites, as demanded by Washington and the once dominant Sunni minority.
But the so-called Islamic state in Iraq, a body set up by al-Qaeda in Iraq, called the plan an attempt to “crush Sunnis in Baghdad and destroy their mosques”, according to the statement posted on a website used by Islamists which was monitored in Dubai today.
“Sheikh Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has issued orders to all … Baghdad brigades of the Islamic state in Iraq to be ready to repulse the attacks that the (Iranian) gangs are expected to launch on Sunni areas in coming days under the guise of the Baghdad security plan,” the statement said.