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Saddam's ‘threat’ to foreigners in Iraq

Dubai, June 13
Saddam Hussain, whose fate is unknown, has issued an ultimatum to foreigners to leave Iraq and threatened attacks in countries and on planes of the US-led coalition, in a letter purportedly signed by him to be published tomorrow in the pan-Arab daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

“We warn all foreign citizens and those who came with the cowardly occupiers ... to leave Iraq,” said the letter.

It said they should leave “before next June 17,” an indication of a possible mistake in the date, which is more likely to be July 17, anniversary of the 1968 coup that brought Saddam's now deposed Baath party to power, according to Al-Quds Al-Arabi editor Abdul Bari Atwan.

The authenticity of the letter, the fifth to be published by Al-Quds Al-Arabi since Saddam was toppled by the US-led coalition in April, could not be confirmed. AFP