Region | Lebanon
Al Qaida group vows 'sea of blood' in Lebanon
A group calling itself Al Qaida's wing in the Levant vowed to carry out bombings in Lebanon and attacks on Christians unless Beirut pulled its army away from Palestinian refugee camps.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 May 26, 2007
- Image Credit: AP
- A military transport carrying ammunition and other equipment for the Lebanese army comes in for a landing at Beirut Airport.
Beirut: A group calling itself Al Qaida's wing in the Levant vowed to carry out bombings in Lebanon and attacks on Christians unless Beirut pulled its army away from Palestinian refugee camps.
"We warn you for the last time, after which there will be nothing apart from seas of blood," said a speaker identified as the military leader of the group in a video posted yesterday by a media arm used by Islamist groups, including Al Qaida in Iraq.
"What we want is that you order the Christian Lebanese army to pull its men from around all Palestinian camps and the Nahr Al Bared camp in particular," he said, addressing Mar-onite Christian Partiarch Cadrinal Nasrallah Sfeir.
"If you do not stop we will wrench out your hearts with ... bombs," said the speaker, who had rifle magazines around his torso.
"No crusader will be safe in Lebanon after today. As you hit you will be hit," said the speaker, describing the army's campaign as a "brutal crusade under the pretext of fighting terrorism" and arguing that Palestinians in Lebanon have always suffered discrimination.
The campaign would target businesses "starting with tourism and ending with other means of making your rotten living," said the militant.
The video came as a fragile truce held between the army and Fatah Al Islam militants despite sporadic overnight clashes.
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