'Martyrs' claim they hit UN HQ

2003-08-25 15:09

Baghdad - An Islamic internet site issued a statement on Monday by a group close to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, claiming to have carried out the devastating attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.

In the statement, which could not be authenticated, the Brigades of Martyr Abu Hafs al-Masri wrote: "The attack in Iraq was a lesson for the United States," calling the United Nations "a branch of the US state department."

"This holy operation killed a number of criminals... including Sergio Vieira de Mello," the UN's top envoy in Iraq, one of the 23 people killed in the blast, said the text published on the website www.faroq.net/news.

The truck bomb targeted the Canal Hotel, which housed the UN offices, and was, according to the statement: "the main centre used to make the Iraqi people hungry, with the participation of murderer Saddam (Hussein) since 1990".

This was when the UN imposed sanctions on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait.

The sanctions were lifted in May after the fall of Saddam's regime.

The text violently attacked Vieira de Mello, saying the UN envoy was a "friend of criminal (US President George W) Bush."

In the name of Jihad, the statement said, "next winter will be full of (acts) of vengeance against the enemies of Islam".

The statement was dated August 19, the day of the attack.

The Brigades of Martyr Abu Hafs al-Masri takes its name from Mohammed Atef, a top al-Qaeda member who was killed in the United States-led military campaign on Afghanistan in 2001.

- AFP