A top U.S. military commander says the most disciplined, intense attacks from insurgency forces in Iraq to date are being masterminded by an Iraqi Canadian.
Abu Abdul Rahman, who reportedly left Canada in 1995 after marrying an Iraqi woman, is now one of the leaders of a disciplined insurgency unlike anything the American troops have experienced in the past, the New York Times reported yesterday.
The paper said training camps are now providing military instruction for insurgents so they can withstand lengthy fights with the U.S. forces, as opposed to the "hit-and-run" tactics employed during the past.
A battle last week in the village of Turki, east of Baghdad, lasted for 40 hours of close combat, killing at least 72 insurgents and two American officers, the Times noted.
"We hadn't seen anything like this in years," said Lt.-Col. Andrew Poppas of the 82nd Airborne Division.
Poppas singled out the leadership of Rahman and told the newspaper the Iraqi Canadian had been mentioned on jihadist websites as a future replacement for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian who once headed Al Qaeda in Iraq, a group known for its beheadings of foreigners...
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