Hamas urges Iraqis to carry out suicide bombings

THE militant Hamas group, which has carried out scores of suicide bombings in Israel, yesterday urged Iraq to copy its tactics and send thousands of attackers with explosives strapped to their bodies into a battle against the West.

“We call on the Arabs and Muslims to burn the land under the feet of the American invaders, especially our brothers in Saudi Arabia because this war is not against Iraq, it’s against the Islamic nation,” said Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a prominent Hamas leader.

The remarks by Rantisi at the rally in the Gaza Strip’s Jabaliya refugee camp were unusual for Hamas, which has mainly focused its fight against Israel since taking up arms in 1987 at the start of the first Palestinian uprising. Since then, the group has not sought involvement in other conflicts.

Israeli terrorism expert, Boaz Ganor, said Hamas was trying to position itself as part of a global Islamic revolution but without steering the focus of its struggle away from Israel.