Turkish truckers bow to Iraq terror threats

After masked gunmen in Iraq shot a blindfolded Turkish hostage three times in the head on a gruesome Internet video, Turkish truckers announced that they would stop hauling goods for US forces.

The truckers’ decision yesterday was the latest concession to militants who have taken more than 70 foreigners hostage as leverage to drive coalition forces - and anyone supporting them – out of the country.

Between 200 and 300 trucks cross Turkey’s southern border into Iraq every day to bring fuel, food and other supplies to US forces.

“As of today, those trucks won’t be crossing into Iraq,” said Cahit Soysal, head of the International Transporters’ Association.

However, it was unclear how the decision would effect US forces. The military did not respond to requests for comment, but Ercument Aksoy, head of the Turkish-Iraqi business council, said he thought Turkish drivers could hand off shipments to Iraqi drivers at the border.

In recent weeks the militants, buoyed by the Philippines’ decision to pull its troops out of Iraq to save a Filipino truck driver, have intensified their kidnapping efforts.

A few companies have withdrawn from Iraq, and several countries – including the Philippines, Bulgaria, Kenya and Egypt – have warned their citizens not to work there.

The killings of foreign hostages has been widely denounced by Iraqi religious figures, including radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Yesterday US Marines fought with gunmen protecting al-Sadr’s house in clashes that killed one woman and wounded three other people in the southern city of Najaf, hospital officials said.

Al-Sadr, whose followers fought a two-month rebellion against US forces in April that died down after a series of truces, was in his house at the time, witnesses said.

The US military did not confirm a battle outside al-Sadr’s house, saying only that Marines were attacked with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars while patrolling the city. The Marines returned fire, killing two insurgents, the military said.

Also yesterday, Iraqi government and religious leaders lashed out at a co-ordinated series of car bombings on Iraqi churches during Sunday evening services that killed at least seven people and wounded 37.

An unknown group claimed responsibility for the church bombings and warned that more attacks would come. The statement, signed by an organisation calling itself the Committee of Planning and Follow-up in Iraq, was posted on an Islamic Web site.

Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is linked to al-Qaida, has claimed responsibility for a spate of recent attacks, including a co-ordinated series of suicide bombings and other attacks on police stations June 24 that killed 89 people and wounded 318.