http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/06/12/al_qaeda_promises_to_avenge_its_leader/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+World+NewsBAGHDAD -- Al Qaeda in Iraq vowed yesterday to carry out ``major attacks" in Iraq to avenge the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and to demonstrate that the network remains a force to be reckoned with despite the loss of its leader.
In a statement posted on the website used by Al Qaeda, the organization said that it held a meeting of its top leaders, and that they resolved to ``prepare major attacks that will shake the enemy like an earthquake and rattle them out of sleep."
Such threats come as no surprise in the wake of the death of the high-profile leader of the group responsible for the most gruesome and deadly terror attacks in Iraq over the past three years. For days, postings on the website have been lauding Zarqawi's achievements and encouraging Muslim fighters to come to Iraq to avenge his death.
Whether or not Zarqawi's group will prove capable of regenerating itself and reclaiming the initiative with the kind of bombings and kidnappings that catapulted Zarqawi to infamy is something the military will closely watch.
But US officials are hoping the damage inflicted on Al Qaeda by Zarqawi's death and by a string of raids in the following days, will seriously disrupt the network, at least in the near term.