In a March 16 interview on Hona Baghdad TV, Iraqi Shiite militia leader Ayoub Al-Rube'i, known as "Abu Azrael," said: "We turned [ISIS members] into slurpees, and by Ali, we will turn them into flour." Abu Azrael, the leader of the "Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi" Iraqi Shiite militia, further said: "We kill them even with shoes."

Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on March 16, 2015.

"Abu Azrael": Those filthy [ISIS members] are under siege. I cannot go into details for security reasons, but within hours, we will storm them, and you will see what we will do to them. We will turn them into carcasses.

Interviewer: Abu Azrael, you have coined some expressions that have become prevalent in Iraq, the Arab world, and across the globe. Poets have used these expressions in their patriotic songs. Take, for example, the expression "I will grind them into flour." Even the foreigners have begun to repeat this line – in Japan, Germany, in Britain, in France, and in America. How do you come up with such expressions?

"Abu Azrael": Well, my dear friend, it comes naturally to me. Sometimes things surface from a person's inner mind.

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Interviewer: I don't know if you knew my son Ali, who was martyred, but he used to tell me about you.

"Abu Azrael": Your son was martyred on the road to Baiji. I congratulate you on his martyrdom.

Interviewer: He used to talk to me about you, saying: "Dad, that's a hero in the full sense of the word. He knows no fear and is untainted by sectarianism and racism." He would tell me about you all the time.

"Abu Azrael": God bless you.

[…]

They would kill our men while they were sleeping, and then they would wait there, and when other people would come in, they would slaughter them. Is that what they call bravery?! If they were brave, they would fight us face to face. But treachery is in their nature. Therefore, we do not say that we defend Iraq and that's it. No siree! We will hound any man who considers harming this oppressed people.

Interviewer: And you turned them into slurpees, right?

"Abu Azrael": We turned them into slurpees, and by Ali, we will grind them into flour.

[…]

I carry on me a dagger, a hatchet, a sword, four hand grenades, a stun grenade, and a smoke grenade. I've got it all. We kill them even with shoes.

Interviewer: Abu Azrael, have you ever had the chance to grab a shoe, and beat them on the head wham, wham, wham?

"Abu Azrael": I did. Let me remind them – and I hope they hear me – that once I caught this Iraqi – well, I don't consider him a true Iraqi… We caught him in the market of Baiji, and he was wearing our own garb, the uniform of Imam Ali Brigades. He confessed to having slaughtered twelve men.

[…]

We didn't even use proper shoes. We used plastic flip-flops. He was killed that way. I made his face go green.

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