PARIS, July 1: The leader of an alliance of armed Iraqi groups called in an audio Internet statement on Saturday for fellow Sunnis in Arab states to attack companies that provision US forces in Iraq and to boycott Iran.

“I call on the sons of the Sunni community in Arab and Islamic states to... hit out at those who supply the crusaders in Iraq from inside their own countries... and to work by whatever means to impose a political, economic and military boycott on Iran,” said Sheikh Abu Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi, “head of the Consultative Council of the Mujahedeen in Iraq”.

Sheikh Baghdadi, a nom de guerre, is an Iraqi and a personal friend of Al Qaeda chief Osma bin Laden, whom he met in Afghanistan.—AFP