Ansar al-Islam, the Islamic group which Washington calls the link between Iraq and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, assassinated a minister of the Kurdish parliament and two other government officials Saturday night and seized two hostages whose fate remained unknown, witnesses and Kurdish security officials said Sunday, according to the New York Times.
In its Monday edition, the paper reported that gunmen, who Kurdish officials said were able to get close to the minister because they were pretending to be peace negotiators, also killed three civilians and injured 12 others in the northern village of Qamesh Tapa.
The attack marked the third assassination attempt by Islamists against Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq since the year 2001 and came as the American military is taking steps to enlist the Kurds in a possible war against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The assassinated minister, Shawkat Hajji Mushir was a founding member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party, which controls the eastern Kurdish zone in Iraq, and a close confidante of Jalal Talabani, the party leader. (Albawaba.com)
