DUBAI - The Al-Qaeda group of Iraq's most-wanted militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Monday denied a US report that 75 insurgents had been killed in a sweep near the Syrian border.
"The adorers of the cross claim to have killed 75 Muslims at Al-Qaim. Once more, they are lying, because lying is their religion," said the statement on an Islamist website, the authenticity of which could not be verified.
The US military said a joint air and ground operation was launched Sunday in western Iraq's Al-Anbar province to eliminate "terrorists and foreign fighters" from an area "known as a smuggling route and sanctuary for foreign fighters", north of the Euphrates River.
US forces said 75 insurgents were killed in the first 24 hours of operations in the area believed to be a Zarqawi stronghold.
"We tell you, o brothers of unity, that our mujahedeen are enjoying victory or martyrdom... The Americans cannot count the number of their losses... your brothers in the organisation of Al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers continue their jihad (holy war) against the enemies of God."
Zarqawi's rebel group last week issued another Internet statement denying an earlier US claim of high casualties inflicted on insurgents in western Iraq.
05/09/2005 15:38 GMT