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Third claim for responsibility for UN Baghdad bombing
Cairo, Aug 26: A third group has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad, posting the claim on a website known as a clearing house for Islamic political thought.
Cairo, Aug 26: A third group has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad, posting the claim on a website known as a clearing house for Islamic political thought.
The statement - also quoted at length yesterday in the London-based Arab newspaper al-Hayat - is signed "Abu Hafs el-Masri Brigades." The shadowy group takes its name from the alias of Mohammed Atef, Osama bin Laden's top deputy who was killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan in November 2001.
It was unclear if the group exists or has any link to the al-Qaeda terror network. US officials in Washington said they could not authenticate the claim.
The claim was first posted Sunday on the site of London-based Saudi dissident Saad al-Fagih's movement for Islamic reform in Arabia.
Al-Fagih deleted the posting yesterday, but it reappeared on the site page, which is similar to a chat room.
He said he would continue to remove it, and that he regularly deletes postings deemed offensive or which lacked authenticity.
He said the language was clearly that of Muslim extremists but it was impossible to discover where it originated.
"We carried out two operations, one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq," said the statement, dated August 19, the day of the UN attack.
Bureau Report
The statement - also quoted at length yesterday in the London-based Arab newspaper al-Hayat - is signed "Abu Hafs el-Masri Brigades." The shadowy group takes its name from the alias of Mohammed Atef, Osama bin Laden's top deputy who was killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan in November 2001.
It was unclear if the group exists or has any link to the al-Qaeda terror network. US officials in Washington said they could not authenticate the claim.
The claim was first posted Sunday on the site of London-based Saudi dissident Saad al-Fagih's movement for Islamic reform in Arabia.
Al-Fagih deleted the posting yesterday, but it reappeared on the site page, which is similar to a chat room.
He said he would continue to remove it, and that he regularly deletes postings deemed offensive or which lacked authenticity.
He said the language was clearly that of Muslim extremists but it was impossible to discover where it originated.
"We carried out two operations, one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq," said the statement, dated August 19, the day of the UN attack.
Bureau Report