A previously unknown group threatened on Wednesday to kill three relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi it claims to have abducted if, within 48 hours, the premier does not halt the assault on Fallujah and if all Iraqi prisoners are not freed, it said in an internet statement.
In the statement, whose authenticity could not be immediately confirmed, the Group of Partisans of Holy War (Jamaat Ansar al-Jihad) said ”elements” of its organisation have ”kidnapped three relatives” of Allawi.
”We proclaim our responsibility for this blessed operation in this blessed month [of Ramadan], and we give the vassal government, in particular the agent Allawi, a deadline of 48 hours to respond to our conditions,” the statement said.
”We demand the liberation of all prisoners in Iraq, women and men, and the lifting of the siege and the halt to the assault against Fallujah,” it added.
If the government ”does not satisfy our demands, they will be decapitated”.
Family members kidnapped from home
A cousin of Allawi, the cousin’s wife and his daughter-in-law were kidnapped on Tuesday evening from their house in Baghdad, a source from the premier’s political party said on Wednesday.
Allawi’s office confirmed that the cousin, Ghazi Allawi, and the daughter-in-law were taken, but had no information on the wife.
Three cars with at least six men inside pulled up to the house in the southern district of Al-Kadisiya from where they took Allawi, who is a businessman, and his two family members, the source from the Iraqi National Accord said.
The attack took place at about 6pm (3pm GMT).
The source, who asked to remain anonymous, had no further details about the attack, which took place just hours after the tough-talking prime minister declared a night-time curfew in Baghdad in a bid to curb escalating violence.
The attack puts further pressure on the tough-talking premier after he launched a full-scale assault on the rebel-held city of Fallujah on Monday, seen as the epicentre of an insurgency that has gripped Iraq.
Scores of foreigners, caught up in a wave of kidnapping that has characterised the insurgency, have ended up in Fallujah, believed to be an operating base for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his followers — the most ruthless gang of hostage takers in Iraq. — Sapa-AFP
House by house, Fallujah falls
US forces push through Fallujah