من هناك
01-09-2007, 06:33 PM
Sunni Muslim Pilgrim Convoy Hijacked In Iraq - Report
9 January 2007
Dow Jones International News
BAGHDAD (AP)--A convoy of Sunni Muslim pilgrims returning from the hajj was hijacked shortly after crossing into Iraq from Saudi Arabia Tuesday, according to a Sunni politician and a local television station. The government denied the report.
Baghdad Television didn't say how many people were kidnapped but reported they were hijacked shortly after entering Iraq through the Arar crossing point that leads into predominantly Shiite southern Iraq.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office issued a terse statement saying reports about kidnapping of pilgrims are untrue.
But a security official in the region told The AP police had information that 10 wanted Saudi citizens were going to be in a convoy of five buses and all the bus passengers were in custody and being questioned.
"It is not yet clear if the Saudis were in the convoy," the official said.
The influential Association of Muslim Scholars said in a statement that men in security forces uniforms asked the pilgrims to abandon the buses and leave their belongings inside. It claimed those who waylaid the convoy took the buses and left the pilgrims "in the desert, waiting for their relatives to pick them up."
Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie, head of the Sunni endowment, told the private Sharqiya TV station most of those kidnapped were teachers at the Sunni Islamic University. He added they were kidnapped by militiamen wearing security forces uniforms.
"This is a plan to harm our people, kidnap our sons and destroy our community," said al-Samaraie, speaking from neighboring Jordan. The Sunni Endowment is the state agency responsible for Sunni mosques and shrines.
Sunni legislator Alaa Makki, told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television "one of the pilgrims who managed to contact us before commandos took his cellular telephone said that security forces stationed at Arar told the previous convoys that 'we are with you to escort you peacefully and they should tell the other convoys to come.' But after that it appeared that they had lists of wanted names to ask for them."
Makki said four clerics in the convoy were taken "to an unidentified place, escorted by military vehicles. The caller said they are taking us to unidentified place then the line was cut."
There were several mass kidnappings of Sunnis in Iraq in the past months and some are still missing. Sunnis have accused the Shiite controlled Interior Ministry of being infiltrated by militias that they say carry kidnappings and killings.
9 January 2007
Dow Jones International News
BAGHDAD (AP)--A convoy of Sunni Muslim pilgrims returning from the hajj was hijacked shortly after crossing into Iraq from Saudi Arabia Tuesday, according to a Sunni politician and a local television station. The government denied the report.
Baghdad Television didn't say how many people were kidnapped but reported they were hijacked shortly after entering Iraq through the Arar crossing point that leads into predominantly Shiite southern Iraq.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office issued a terse statement saying reports about kidnapping of pilgrims are untrue.
But a security official in the region told The AP police had information that 10 wanted Saudi citizens were going to be in a convoy of five buses and all the bus passengers were in custody and being questioned.
"It is not yet clear if the Saudis were in the convoy," the official said.
The influential Association of Muslim Scholars said in a statement that men in security forces uniforms asked the pilgrims to abandon the buses and leave their belongings inside. It claimed those who waylaid the convoy took the buses and left the pilgrims "in the desert, waiting for their relatives to pick them up."
Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie, head of the Sunni endowment, told the private Sharqiya TV station most of those kidnapped were teachers at the Sunni Islamic University. He added they were kidnapped by militiamen wearing security forces uniforms.
"This is a plan to harm our people, kidnap our sons and destroy our community," said al-Samaraie, speaking from neighboring Jordan. The Sunni Endowment is the state agency responsible for Sunni mosques and shrines.
Sunni legislator Alaa Makki, told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television "one of the pilgrims who managed to contact us before commandos took his cellular telephone said that security forces stationed at Arar told the previous convoys that 'we are with you to escort you peacefully and they should tell the other convoys to come.' But after that it appeared that they had lists of wanted names to ask for them."
Makki said four clerics in the convoy were taken "to an unidentified place, escorted by military vehicles. The caller said they are taking us to unidentified place then the line was cut."
There were several mass kidnappings of Sunnis in Iraq in the past months and some are still missing. Sunnis have accused the Shiite controlled Interior Ministry of being infiltrated by militias that they say carry kidnappings and killings.