Swords of Righteousness Brigade

The Swords of Righteousness Brigade (Arabic: سرايا سيوف الحق, sometimes translated as the Swords of Truth Brigade) is a terrorist group which kidnapped four Western peace activists in Iraq on 26 November 2005, murdered one, Tom Fox, and held the remaining three hostages until March 22, 2006, when coalition forces raided the place where the hostages were held, known as the 2005-2006 Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis.

The group was unknown prior to this kidnapping.[1] However, the U.S.-based SITE Institute, a terrorism research organization, said that it had found ties between the Swords of Righteousness Brigade and the Islamic Army in Iraq.[2]

Hostage crisis

In 2006, the human rights workers were freed, except for Tom Fox, an American Quaker, who was killed by the hostage takers. Along with Tom Fox, two Canadians, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, and Briton Norman Kember were also kidnapped. Their release reportedly involved the Canadian elite forces JTF-2, British SAS and American Special Forces operatives.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mathewson, Judy (November 30, 2005). "U.S. Christian Group Names Captives in Iraq, Blames U.S., U.K.". Bloomberg News. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  2. ↑ 'New fear for Iraq hostages', National Post, December 13, 2005
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