http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article361048.eceHundreds of suicide bombers have "broken America's back" in three years in Iraq, Ayman al-Zawahri, the deputy leader of al-Qa'ida, said in a video released on the internet yesterday. In a diatribe against the terror network's many enemies, Zawahri struck a triumphant note, claiming in Iraq "America, Britain and their allies have achieved nothing but losses, disasters and misfortunes".
The al-Qa'ida deputy, who like his leader, Osama bin Laden, is presumed to be hiding on the lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was shown wearing a black turban and a white robe, but the assault rifle usually propped beside him was missing this time.
Zawahri referred to al-Qa'ida in Iraq, the offshoot led by the Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, saying its members had "carried out 800 martyrdom operations in three years, besides the victories of other mujahideen. And this is what has broken the back of America in Iraq."
In fact, the suicide bombings of al-Qa'ida in Iraq have largely been aimed at soft targets such as Shia civilians in market-places, mosques or young men standing in long, vulnerable queues in search of jobs in the police or army. Few of the 20,000 US troops killed or injured in Iraq in the past three years were the target of al-Qa'ida.
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