NEWS.com.au | 'Dog is dead' sparked Najaf arrests (September 1, 2003):
"TWO Saudis arrested after the Najaf attack in Iraq that killed leading Shiite cleric Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim were picked up after sending an e-mail saying 'mission accomplished: the dog is dead', The Times reported today quoting a source close to the Iraqi inquiry.
The men were grabbed by a crowd and taken to the nearest police station after being seen sending the e-mail from an Internet cafe, the source said.
The bombing on Friday in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf killed at least 83 people including Ayatollah Hakim, regarded as a moderate Shiite.
The two suspects apparently attracted the attention of the son of the cafe owner after having 'offered a larger than usual sum of money to use a computer', the British daily said.
It was then that the son saw the men send a message saying 'mission accomplished: the dog is dead'.
Grabbed by an angry crowd of Shiite Muslims, the two men 'admitted they were Saudi Wahhabis working for al-Qaeda', Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, the source was quoted as saying.
Iraqi police said yesterday at least two Saudis were among 19 people detained in connection with the car bombing in Najaf. "Why are they so insistent on sending the email, when whoever they were sending it to could just as easily watch the news, or read it on the internet?
"TWO Saudis arrested after the Najaf attack in Iraq that killed leading Shiite cleric Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim were picked up after sending an e-mail saying 'mission accomplished: the dog is dead', The Times reported today quoting a source close to the Iraqi inquiry.
The men were grabbed by a crowd and taken to the nearest police station after being seen sending the e-mail from an Internet cafe, the source said.
The bombing on Friday in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf killed at least 83 people including Ayatollah Hakim, regarded as a moderate Shiite.
The two suspects apparently attracted the attention of the son of the cafe owner after having 'offered a larger than usual sum of money to use a computer', the British daily said.
It was then that the son saw the men send a message saying 'mission accomplished: the dog is dead'.
Grabbed by an angry crowd of Shiite Muslims, the two men 'admitted they were Saudi Wahhabis working for al-Qaeda', Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, the source was quoted as saying.
Iraqi police said yesterday at least two Saudis were among 19 people detained in connection with the car bombing in Najaf. "Why are they so insistent on sending the email, when whoever they were sending it to could just as easily watch the news, or read it on the internet?
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