DUBAI, July 20 (AFP) - A website published an alleged demand by suspected Al-Qaeda leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi Tuesday for Japan to withdraw its troops from Iraq or face attack, then just hours later ran a statement in which he supposedly denied making the demand.
Neither of the statements, on Islamic website http://www.ansarnet.ws/vb/,
could be verified.
The first message, purportedly signed by the Khalid ibn Al-Walid Brigade, the military wing of Zarqawi's Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Unification and Holy War) group and addressed to the Japanese government, said: "Do it as the Philippines did."
The Philippines this week withdrew its 51-strong contingent from Iraq ahead of schedule to save the life of Filipino hostage Angelo de la Cruz, who was released Tuesday.
"We never forgive anyone who supports Iraq, where you came not to help the Iraqi people but to protect the Americans. You will know the same fate as the Americans and others" killed in Iraq, the message said.
The statement also warned Arab and Islamic countries against "sending forces to Iraq to support American forces and the invasion" of the country.
It singled out Pakistan, Jordan, Turkey, Iran, Gulf Arab states, other Middle Eastern countries, and Indonesia and Malaysia.
"For the last time, we warn that we will strike with force all those who support the Americans, (Prime Minister Iyad) Allawi and his group," it added.
"In the event of sending Arab and Islamic troops, we will not remain without a reaction. We swear that we will fight them more than the Americans," it said.
The group recommended that Arab and Islamic soldiers disobey any order to deploy to Iraq, otherwise "car bombs are waiting for you".
But the second statement, purportedly issued by Tawhid wa al-Jihad's "information department," called the first message a "lie."
Japan, one of Washington's staunch supporters of the Iraq war, has around 550 troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa providing humanitarian aid.
Allawi said earlier this month the multinational force in Iraq should be expanded to include other countries such as Morocco, Bahrain and Oman, but he acknowledged risks were involved in such a commitment.
Zarqawi, a fugitive Jordanian Islamist who has a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head, has already claimed responsibility for a string of attacks in Iraq, including the beheading of foreign hostages.