Al-Qaida calls for Ramadan attacks

AL-QAIDA in Iraq has urged supporters to intensify attacks on US and Iraqi forces during the holy month of Ramadan, which began yesterday, and called for a boycott of next week’s constitutional referendum.

The call to boycott the national vote was issued in an internet posting yesterday, while the exhortation to increase attacks was published on the web on Monday.

“While we are in this Ramadan, we say O Islam, muster your strength, and we incite the believers to fight the worshippers of the cross who have violated the [religious] limits and honours, demolished mosques and houses, burnt copies of the Koran and sowed corruption in the land,” the group said.

Ramadan began yesterday across much of the Middle East, after religious officials declared they had seen the crescent moon on Monday night.

Muslims believe God began to reveal the Koran, the Islamic holy book, to the Prophet Muhammad more than 1,400 years ago during Ramadan.

Muslims are expected to abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk to focus on spiritual introspection.

Muslims spend long periods in mosques and attempt to read the entire Koran during the month. It is believed that during Ramadan, good deeds are rewarded 10 times.

There has been a spike in violence, especially in suicide bombings, during the past two Ramadan holidays since the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Some Islamic extremists believe that those who die in combat for a holy cause during Ramadan are especially blessed.

The al-Qaida in Iraq statement recalled historic battles Muslims had won during the holy month when they were greatly outnumbered by opponents. The statement asked God “to make this month a victory for Muslims and a month of defeat for the hypocrites and polytheists.”

The statement on the constitution declared there was no point in voting because: “You know very well that the Americans are going to supervise collecting the voting boxes and counting the votes.”

Meanwhile, the US military yesterday launched a major offensive in a cluster of cities in the Euphrates River valley aimed at insurgents who were using the area as a safe haven and who had killed 20 US Marines there in August.

Air strikes by US warplanes and dozens of helicopters set off explosions that lit the city skylines of Haqlaniyah and nearby Parwana.

About 2,500 US Marines, soldiers and sailors and several hundred Iraqi troops were taking part in the operation, which began three days after about 1,000 service members launched a separate US offensive further to the west in the Euphrates River valley near the Syrian border in the village of Sadah and the nearby towns of Rumana and Karabila.