Iraq's al Qaeda says Katrina is "wrath of God"-Web
Sun Sep 4, 2005
DUBAI (Reuters) - The al Qaeda group in Iraq on Sunday hailed the hurricane deaths in America as the "wrath of God", according to an Internet statement.
"God attacked America and the prayers of the oppressed were answered," said the statement, which was posted on an Islamic Web site often used by the insurgent group fighting the U.S.-backed Iraqi government.
The statement's authenticity could not be verified.
"The wrath of the All-powerful fell upon the nation of oppressors. Their dead are in the thousands and their losses are in the billions," said the statement from the group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has a $25 million U.S. bounty on this head.
"Only recently America killed and starved whoever it wanted, but today it is appealing for oil and food," it added.
The hurricane on the U.S. Gulf coast killed hundreds but as rescue work continues the final toll could be in the thousands.
Zarqawi's group is at the forefront of a raging insurgency since the U.S.-led war in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein. Nearly 1,900 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the invasion.
President Bush has vowed to keep U.S. troops in the country as part of the U.S. "war on terror" to prevent attacks on U.S. soil.
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