Al Qaeda Issues Ultimatum to Iraqi Government

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The spokesperson of the Islamic State of Iraq in Nineveh gave the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki a few days to pull out his troops from Mosul or face the consequences. "We haven't started the battle yet, because we're the ones in control here," said the man in a video obtained by CBS News that has not been released on jihadi forums yet. "We shall decide where to strike, and at a time, in accordance to the developments of the battle," added the man who wore traditional white Arabic dress and was shown sitting in front of a laptop. His face was blurred and voice distorted.

The 10-minute video focused on the security operation carried out by U.S. and Iraqi government forces in Mosul. The man said that operations against U.S. and Iraqi forces there have never stopped and claimed that members of al Qaeda carried out several operations in various areas in Mosul and attempted to assassinate the Iraqi interior Minister Jawad al Bulani in al Ghabat area before he managed to escape. Al Qaeda is part of the Islamic State of Iraq. The main also claimed his group targeted a meeting led by al Maliki at the city council with a Katyusha rocket.

The "spokesperson" denied reports about the arrest of 1400 fighters including the leader of al Qaeda in Nineveh and challenged the Iraqi government to show a single al Qaeda fighter who surrendered or turned in his weapons. He finally threatened members of the Iraqi Islamic party that they would be punished for allowing the Iraqi forces to Mosul.

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