Zarqawi group 'spoilt party'

2005-01-30 17:17

Dubai - Militants loyal to Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed to have carried out more than a dozen suicide attacks against polling stations during Sunday's election, in a statement posted on the internet.

"We have spoiled their party.

"We have struck them with grievous attacks... Before this statement was published, 13 lions from the martyrs brigade of the al-Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Land of the Two Rivers attacked centres of the infidel in various regions of Iraq," said a statement posted on the internet.

Its authenticity could not be independently confirmed.

An earlier internet statement, claimed that the same group had attacked "more than one polling centre... killing policemen, members of the national guard and Americans, the enemies of God."

It cited attacks in Al-Mansur, the cities of Al-Jamiaa and Al-Adl, as well as the Sunni dominant cities of Mosul, Samarra, Tel Afar and Baquba.

At least 36 people were killed and 96 others wounded in a string of attacks on Sunday, according to the interior ministry, in addition to a US military serviceman.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born fugitive with a $25m price on his head, has threatened to attack anyone involved in Sunday's polls.

- AFP