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June 20, 2006

Iraq: New Islamist Leader Tortured And Killed US Soldiers

We try not to dwell on military news in Iraq, as it is adequately covered by our link-partner, US Central Command, and also the mainstream media. But this story has hit so many nerves, and is a sign that though the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is now dead, his successor is equally intent on carving out a reputation as an Islamist barbarian.

The two young men pictured above are Thomas Tucker (left) and Kristian Menchaca (right). On Friday night, the two disappeared at a roadblock near Yusufiyah in the notorious "Triangle of Death" an area where numerous kidnappings have previously taken place. Immediately there were fears that the two soldiers had been kidnapped. Earlier today, acting on a tip-off from an Iraqi, their bodies were recovered. The informant had warned those who found the two soldiers that their bodies may have been booby-trapped with explosives, states the Times.

Reuters reports that the new leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, the successor to Zarqawi, had himself performed the killing of the two men. According to an Islamist website, the new leader, Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir had slit their throats.

The news of the killing had been reported on a web forum not usually used for Al Qaeda announcements. According to the Times, the statement read "God Almighty has graced the leader Abu Hamza alMuhajir....with the implementation of the sentence." The information was posted by the Mujahidin Shura Council.

The announcement came a few hours before their bodies were found. It now appears that the two men were brutally tortured before they were murdered, as stated by Major-General Abdul Aziz Muhammad, an Iraqi Defence Ministry official.

The victims were young. Private Thomas Lowell Tucker was 25, and Private Kristian Menchaca was 23. The US military confirmed that the bodies had been placed among explosive devices. In a statement, it was announced: "Coalition forces had to carefully manoeuver their way through numerous improvised explosive devices leading up to and around the site. Insurgents attempting to inflict additional casualties had placed IEDs around the bodies. During the course of the search, one Coalition force soldier was killed and 12 were wounded."

Last week, the US military released the picture of al-Masri, the replacement for al-Zarqawi. Al-Masri is assumed to have become a militant in 1982 when he joined Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which had been led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, currently the second in command of Al Qaeda.

Al-Masri first met Zarqawi in Afghanistan in 1999 when they both attended the Al-Faruq training camp. Al-Masri there became a skilled expert in explosives. He worked with Zarqawi in Fallujah in the north of Iraq, and then moved southward to become leader of Al-Qaeda in the south of Iraq.

Last week, Al-Masri had a bounty of $200,000 on his head. Major-General William Caldwell, the chief spokesman for US forces in Baghdad, said last week that Egyptian-born al-Masri was believed to be operating from Baghdad.

Zarqawi's savagery and barbarism was a tough act to folllow. It appears that with the murders of Privates Tucker and Menchaca, al-Masri has no problem with being as big a monster as his predecessor.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 20, 2006 10:47 PM

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