Militants give El Salvador 20 days to quit Iraq

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - An Islamist group has given El Salvador 20 days to pull out troops from Iraq or it would strike inside the Central American country and against its forces in Iraq, according to an Internet statement posted Monday.

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"We give you 20 days to withdraw from Iraq. This is the last chance after which there will not be any more statements, only bloodshed," said Mohammed Atta Brigades - al Qaeda of Jihad.

"The aim of this deadline is to give you a chance to review yourselves and after that we wash our hands of the blood of every Salvadorian whether in Iraq or in El Salvador," said the statement posted on a Web site which has carried Islamist militant statements in the past.

It was not possible to verify the statement’s authenticity.

The group has previously threatened to attack El Salvador if it did not cancel its plans to send a new contingent of soldiers to Iraq this month.

El Salvador has stepped up security but said it would go ahead with the new deployment, planned for around Aug. 17.

On Aug. 12, San Salvador told its diplomats around the world to seek additional security and warned its soldiers already in Iraq to be vigilant after another Islamist group - Islamic Tawhid - vowed to turn Iraq into "hell" for Salvadoran troops.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20040816-0932-security-salvador-iraq.html