Desperation Times?

[Annie]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&e=3&u=/nm/20050424/wl_nm/iraq_qaeda_dc

Iraqi Qaeda Vows to Kill Sunnis Joining Govt.

Sun Apr 24,12:11 PM ET World - Reuters



DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's Iraqi wing threatened Sunday to kill fellow Sunni Muslims who join the country's new government, saying they would be considered infidels.



"We warn all those who want to join the politics of infidels and apostates that the steel sword will be their only fate," the group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said in a statement posted on a Web site used by Islamic militants.


Talks to form a new government have been going on for nearly three months. Political sources say discussions are focusing on drawing minority Sunni Arabs, the dominant sect under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, into the government with majority Shi'ite Muslims and Kurds.


"Those so-called Sunnis are racing into the open arms of the Jews and Christians ... for the love of positions and earthly interests," al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq said in the statement. Its authenticity could not be verified.


Zarqawi's group is one of the main networks of insurgents in Iraqi fighting the government and U.S. forces. It claimed responsibility for last year's assassination of the head of the now-defunct Iraqi Governing Council and senior police officials.