Sunni Endowment denounces AQI statements on Iraq Shiites

BAGDHAD / IraqiNews.com: The deputy chief of the Sunni Endowment on Sunday denounced statements made by the Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in which it threatened to target Iraqi Shiites, urging the government to enhance the intelligence capabilities. “I think that cartoon state can’t even liquidate a small group let alone the Shiite group that boasts leverage in Iraq,” Mahmoud al-Samaydaie said in statements to IraqiNews.com news agency. Samaydaie was referring to the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an armed affiliate group of the AQI. “The AQI is a group of vane tyrants who had before targeted the Sunnis and killed their scholars,” he added. The AQI had posted statements on the web earlier in which he pledged to “liquidate” the Shiites of Iraq. The armed group’s statements come after its top leaders in Iraq Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayoub al-Masri were killed and the so-called wali (ruler) of Baghdad was arrested. AmR (P) 2