The head of Al Qaeda's Iraq branch, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, said he has mobilized 12,000 fighters for a self-styled "Islamic state of Iraq."
DUBAI: The head of Al Qaeda's Iraq branch, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, said he has mobilized 12,000 fighters for a self-styled Islamic state of Iraq, in an audio message posted on Friday on the Internet.
"I tell the commander of the faithful, the honorable Sheikh Abu Omar al-Baghdadi: I have put 12,000 Al-Qaeda fighters at the disposal of the Islamic state of Iraq," Muhajer said, pledging allegiance to the emir of the "state" proclaimed on October 15.
The authenticity of the message attributed to Muhajer could not be independently confirmed.
"I tell the commander of the faithful, the honorable Sheikh Abu Omar al-Baghdadi: I have put 12,000 Al-Qaeda fighters at the disposal of the Islamic state of Iraq," Muhajer said, pledging allegiance to the emir of the "state" proclaimed October.
The authenticity of the message attributed to Muhajer could not be independently confirmed.
An alliance of Sunni insurgents headed by the Iraq branch of Al-Qaeda announced the creation of an independent Islamic emirate in Iraq in a video posted on the Internet on October 15 after parliament in Baghdad approved a federal constitution for the war-ravaged country.
In Friday's message, Muhajer lashed out at US President George W. Bush, describing him as "stupid," and said US forces occupying Iraq were preparing to cut and run.
"The enemy is now teetering under the blows of the mujahedeen ... and preparing to pack up and flee," he said.
"I thank the most stupid and worst president America -- the country of slaves and drugs -- has ever had for giving us this great historic opportunity," said the voice purported to be that of the Al-Qaeda supremo in Iraq.
"Uncle Sam's dreams have evaporated in the land of oil and water," he said in a reference to Iraq.
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