Sabri: Iraqi troops will 'annihilate' allies
Iraq’s foreign minister today confidently predicted his country’s forces would defeat the Allies and said only surrender would save coalition troops from the “holocaust” the Iraqi people are preparing for them.
“Every day that passes the United States and Britain are sinking deeper in the mud of defeat ... Those two states have no choice but to withdraw early and fast, today before tomorrow,” Naji Sabri said.
“We shall annihilate these forces and the only ones who will be spared are the ones who surrender on the battlefield,” he said.
As he spoke at a news conference at the Information Ministry in Baghdad, a building which was again hit in strikes early today, a new air raid was reported in the Iraqi capital.
Arab-language satellite television Al-Jazeera broke broadcast of the news conference to bring live pictures of the Baghdad skyline and the crackle of anti-aircraft fire.
Sabri claimed the Americans and the British had already suffered hundreds of dead or wounded “while others were taken prisoners or fled”. He refused to give a number for US or British prisoners held by Iraq.
US military officials say seven US soldiers have been captured. No British prisoners have been reported missing.
“We are determined to inflict the biggest possible number of losses among them and expel them outside our borders. Victory is near,” Sabri said.
He also said more than 5,000 Arab volunteers were in Iraq training for “martyrdom attacks”.
