Sunni insurgents want revenge for rapes

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer 46 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni insurgent groups including al-Qaida in
Iraq have called for revenge attacks after second rape allegation against
the Shiite-dominated security forces.

The second rape allegation to be made in a television interview ? an unusual
development in Iraq, where the crime is rarely reported or spoken of ? is
putting more pressure on the Iraqi government, its army and police in their
desperate fight against the country's enduring Sunni insurgency and
sectarian violence.
The al-Qaida in Iraq leader, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub
al-Masri, purportedly called on his followers Thursday to step up attacks on
Iraqi security forces to avenge the alleged rapes in Baghdad and the
northern town of Tal Afar near the Syrian border.

He also claimed in an audio tape that 300 followers have volunteered for
suicide missions within hours of hearing news of the alleged rape in
Baghdad, which the woman said took place in a police garrison.

The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately verified, but the
voice sounded like al-Masri's and it appeared on Web sites commonly used by
the militant groups.

At least six groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq, have called for revenge
since the first rape claim was made on Monday, according to IntelCenter, a
U.S. group that tracks extremist messages.

The rape allegations by Sunni Arab women, particularly that of a 20-year-old
who said she was raped by three policemen last weekend, have angered Sunni
politicians, as well as the insurgent groups.

The latest rape allegation, made by a 50-year-old woman from Tal Afar, is
likely to further undermine the reputation of the Iraqi forces that
Washington hopes can soon take over from U.S. and allied forces so they can
go home.

Sunni Arab politicians opposed to the Shiite-led government have seized on
the charges, asserting that they know of hundreds of similar but
unpublicized cases.

Harith al-Dhari, the head of the hardline Sunni Association of Muslim
Scholars, told Iraq's Al-Sharqiya television that he knew of hundreds of
rapes over the past two years.

The woman who made the initial allegations was taken to a U.S.-run medical
facility Sunday, the day she said she was raped, and released the following
day.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said evidence in the case
was being preserved "so that it may be provided to the appropriate Iraqi
judicial official in accordance with U.S. policy."

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman in Baghdad, said Friday
the evidence they release depends upon what the Iraqis need for legal
proceedings.

"The investigation is ongoing. As to how much will be released, it depends
on how much there is beyond medical records ... and then also how much will
become evidence" in any Iraqi legal action, he said.

The alleged victim in the latest case, the 50-year-old woman from Tal Afar,
appeared on Al-Jazeera to recount her ordeal when her house was raided Feb.
8 by Iraqi soldiers looking for insurgents and arms.

She said she was raped when she did not provide the soldiers with
information they sought on insurgents in the area and that one of them
filmed the alleged attack with a cell phone video camera.

Nijm Abdullah, Tal Afar's mayor, said four soldiers were being accused in
the case. He said a fifth soldier suspected something was wrong, rushed into
the house and forced the others at gunpoint to stop the assault. He refused
to say whether the soldiers were Shiites or Sunnis, saying only that they
came from Iraq's mainly Shiite south.

President Jalal Talabani, breaking his silence on the political storm
swirling around the rape allegations, has appealed for calm, saying the
courts were the only place where such cases should be settled.

"Today, we need to trust one another and avoid whatever shakes that trust,
stokes sensitivities or fill hearts with malice," Talabani, a Sunni Kurd,
said in a statement issued by his office late Thursday.



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