– Cartoon Wars

Taliban say 100 enlist for suicide attacks over cartoons
Yahoo News

One hundred militants have enlisted to become suicide bombers in Afghanistan since the appearance of "blasphemous" cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, a top Taliban commander said.

Mullah Dadullah, one of the Taliban's most senior military commanders, said Thursday that his Islamic extremist group had also offered a reward of 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of gold to anyone who killed people responsible for the drawings.

"More than 100 mujahedin (holy warriors) have enlisted to carry out suicide attacks," the fugitive Dadullah told AFP by telephone from an unknown location.

The targets would be "infidels", said the commander, who is believed to be close to the Taliban's wanted leader Mullah Omar.

He added: "The Taliban will give 100 kilograms of gold to one who kills the cartoonist."

Five kilograms of gold would go to anyone who killed a soldier from Denmark, Germany or Norway -- among the countries where the cartoons have appeared.

At current prices 100 kilograms of gold is worth about 1.9 million dollars.

Dadullah said that the Taliban militia, which has been waging an insurgency in Afghanistan for the past four years, had strong support from the Al-Qaeda network and good ties with militants in Iraq.

"We do have relations with Al-Qaeda. We're one body. Al-Qaeda funds our fightings. We're one body, brothers, and we've one common enemy," he said.

"We've good relations with Iraqi mujahedin and Al-Qaeda mujahedin," he said, calling on other Muslims to join the fight against Western countries which he said had invaded the Islamic world.

The Taliban was in government between 1996 and 2001 before being ousted in an operation launched by the United States following the September 11, 2001 attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda.

Dadullah claimed the Taliban had defeated the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai on several fronts and was in control of several southern Afghanistan districts, which he did not name.

The militants have carried out regular attacks on foreign and pro-government targets, mainly in the south and east, despite the presence of nearly 30,000 foreign troops, two-thirds of them US-led forces tasked with hunting down militants.

Dadullah said some of the attackers involved in a spate of recent suicide blasts over recent months were foreigners but most of the insurgents were Afghans.

Violence blamed on the Taliban claimed more than 1,700 lives last year; nearly 100 people have died so far this year.