ISI Announces Execution of 20 Officers Affiliated with Iraqi Government

In a communiqué today, the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) announced it had executed the 20 Iraqi officers affiliated with the Iraqi government whom it had kidnapped on April 14, 2007.[1]

According to the communiqué, the hostages were killed because the Iraqi government had failed to meet the ISI's demands within 48 hours, as per the ISI's April 14 ultimatum.

Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi Calls upon All Sunni Jihad Organizations in Iraq to Unite

On April 17, 2007, Islamist websites posted a 40-minute audio recording by ISI leader Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, produced by the ISI media company Al-Furqan and titled "The Harvest of the Monotheistic State [over the] Years." The following are its main points:

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Al-Baghdadi enumerates what he perceives as the Sunni achievements in the last four years, stating that shari'a law is beginning to be implemented, and that there is a massive return to Islam among Sunni youth and support for jihad among the population. Furthermore, he adds, the situation of the jihad fighters has improved on the religious, organizational, military and political levels. Referring to the religious level, Al-Baghdadi states that today, there isn't a single Muslim home that does not have a martyr, a prisoner or a fighter missing in action, and that hundreds wish to be martyrs, including women. As for the organizational level, he says that "there has been significant qualitative and quantitative development, and the mujahideen have expanded the area in which shari'a is implemented." Al-Baghdadi next informs the jihad fighters in Iraq that "the Al-Quds One rocket has entered the industrial military manufacture phase." He also praises jihad, saying that the achievements were attained only through armed struggle, and not by peaceful means, since "the world respects only those who have power."

Al-Baghdadi calls on the Sunnis to unite, presenting unity as a religious duty and as an important component of victory, and warns against fitna (civil strife) and against collaboration with the Americans and their supporters. In this context, he addresses the Sunni jihad organizations that have not pledged allegiance to him and have not joined the ISI, including Jaysh Al-Ansar, Jaysh Al-Mujahideen and Al-Jaysh Al-Islami, and says, "The friendship between us is deep, and our ties of trust and love are too strong to be damaged... Rest assured that [the ties] between us are stronger than some assume." Addressing the jihad group Kataib Thawrat Al-Ishrin, he says that, in spite of the "devil that is Islamic Party" that is "lying between us," the wise commanders of Kataib [Thawrat Al-Ishrin] understood the situation and sat with their brothers in the ISI in order to prevent fitna.

Al-Baghdadi then denies that his organization deliberately kills Muslims, and calls on the ISI fighters to be moderate, to be kind to those who do good and to avoid wronging [even] to those who do wrong. Finally, he defends the establishment of the ISI and lists numerous reasons why it should continue to exist, including the argument that it was "founded upon the [severed] limbs of the martyrs and watered with their blood."