6 years ago
Militants bent on disrupting the supply chain to the U.S. military threatened Tuesday to cut the highway linking Iraq to Jordan in 72 hours and said it would hit at Jordanians as well as Americans.
The threat, from a group calling itself "The Group of Death," was made in a video obtained by Associated Press Television News. The video showed seven men wearing black clothing and masks armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and rifles.
The group's warning comes amid a wave of kidnappings of foreigners, mainly truck drivers, entering Iraq from neighboring countries to deliver supplies and other cargo needed for this war-ravaged nation's reconstruction effort.
A militant who read a statement on the tape criticized Jordan, Iraq's western neighbor, for letting trucking firms enter Iraq to support the U.S.-led coalition.
"We consider all Jordanian interests, companies and businessmen and citizens as much a target as the Americans," the speaker said.
The militant said his group would not attack trucks carrying medicine and food supplies.
"We will cut the road between Jordan and Iraq so that Jordanian supplies cannot supply the U.S. Army," the speaker on the tape said, adding that it would happen in 72 hours from 1 p.m. local time Tuesday.
"We have warned you so there will be no excuses," he said.
The threat referred to support by Jordan's King Abdullah II, a close U.S. ally, for the presence of American and South Korean forces in Iraq.
"Jordan is forgetting the sacrifices of the (Iraqi) martyrs ... (and the) mujahedeen, who have sworn by God to get rid of the occupiers who began with Iraq and will continue with other Arab countries," the speaker said.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
