Al-Qaida's Iraq head refuses to scrap Syria merger

BAGHDAD (AP) ? The leader of al-Qaida's Iraq arm defiantly rejected an order from the terror network's global command to scrap a merger with the organization's Syria affiliate, according to a message purporting to be from him that was posted online Saturday.

The latest statement by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who heads the Islamic State of Iraq, reveals a growing rift within the terror network and highlights the Iraqi wing's determination to link its own fight against the Shiite-led government in Baghdad with the cause of rebels trying to topple the Syrian regime.

In an audio message posted online, a speaker identified as al-Baghdadi insists that a merger he announced in April with Syria's Jabhat al-Nusra rebel group to create a cross-border movement known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant will continue.

"The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant will continue as long as we live. We will not give up and we will not compromise over this," he said.

Al-Nusra is Syria's most powerful rebel extremist group, and its head has rejected the takeover attempt.

The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV reported late Sunday that al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had issued a letter trying to end the squabbling and ordering the two groups to stay separate.

Al-Baghdadi is now defying that command.

In his statement, he referred to "the letter attributed to Sheik al-Zawahiri," suggesting he was calling into question the authenticity of the letter.

"I chose the command of God over the command that runs against it in the letter," al-Baghdadi said.

He urged his followers to rise up against Shiites, Alawites, and the "Party of Satan" ? a reference to the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which has been sending fighters to Syria to fight alongside of President Bashar Assad's regime. Assad comes from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

It was not possible to independently confirm whether the speaker was al-Baghdadi, but the man's voice was similar to that in an earlier recording announcing the merger.

Violence has spiked sharply in Iraq in recent months, with the death toll rising to levels not seen since 2008. Al-Qaida in Iraq is thought responsible for many of the car bombings and other violent attacks targeting the country's majority Shiites and symbols of the Shiite-led government's authority.

Iraq risks getting more deeply involved in the Syrian civil war raging across its western border.

Iraqi border posts along the Syrian frontier have come under attack by rebels, and Syrian truck drivers and soldiers have been killed inside Iraq. Iraqi fighters are moving across the border, with Sunni extremists cooperating with the rebels and Shiite militants fighting alongside government forces.

Also on Saturday, an Iranian exile group living in a camp near Baghdad airport, the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, said it came under attack from rockets that caused casualties among its members, according to camp spokesman Shahriar Kia.

Camp resident Kolthom Serahati was reported killed and others were wounded, according to the group.

Iraq's government wants the MEK out of the country, and the United Nations is working to relocate residents abroad.

The group is the militant wing of a Paris-based Iranian opposition group that opposes Iran's clerical regime and has carried out assassinations and bombings in Iran. It fought alongside Saddam Hussein's forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and several thousand of its members were given sanctuary in Iraq. It renounced violence in 2001.

Iraqi police officials reported that explosions ? which they said were caused by mortar shells ? struck near the airport, but there was no immediate word on casualties. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

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Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed reporting.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaidas-iraq-head-refuses-scrap-syria-merger-111419218.html

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