Flit — Paris Match Interview provides a translation of the article “Voici le commando qui a touché l’Airbus” (“The commandoes who hit the Airbus”), in Paris Match, Nov. 27, 2003, by Claudine Vernier-Palliez:
It is dawn and the time for first prayer. The ten men lay down their weapons on the ground and prostrate themselves towards Mecca. Three cars await them. They start off like a whirlwind; we don’t know where they are taking us. They stop in a cloud of dust, a few kilometers further, to recover a Sam-7 surface-to-air missile wrapped in a white fabric and hidden in a thicket, at the edge of a dirt track. Then they take out RPG-7s, Kalashnikovs and machine-guns concealed in the rear of the van. ‘Today,’ shouts the leader, ‘we will shoot down a plane! We had planned to carry out this operation tomorrow evening, but it will be this morning.’ He raises his arms towards the sky and begs Allah to support them.
The original article was written by French journalists allowed to travel with Iraqi guerillas. Hmm…