Group claims Baghdad attack

2004-05-22 20:18

Cairo, Egypt - A group linked to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility on Saturday for a Baghdad suicide attack that targeted an Iraqi deputy minister, the second fatal bombing it has claimed in a week.

The Monotheism and Jihad Group said the attack was a warning to the United States and its allies that they are not safe from retaliation.

"Your brothers of the Monotheism and Jihad Group hit the apostate, the traitor, Deputy Interior Minister Abdul-Jabbar Youssef (al-Sheikhli), who belongs to Muslim Dawa party, in front of his house while he was about to leave on his way to work," the group said in a statement that surfaced on an Islamic website.

The group said "martyr" Ahmed el-Shami Aby Abdel Rahman, from Qamishli, Syria, "drove a car bomb to take (al-Sheikhli) to hell."

At least four people, in addition to the attacker, were killed in the Saturday morning attack outside the home of Abdul-Jabbar Youssef al-Sheikhli, one of three deputy interior ministers. Al-Sheikhli was in stable condition after injuries to his head and chest, a ministry official said.

Strong message

The group's statement said the attack was a "strong political message" meant to warn the United States and its allies "in its war and aggression against the Islamic Ummah (nation)."

"They will not be safe from the hand of God's retaliation, then the mujahedeen's, and that they should be ready."

The statement was carried by an Islamic website known as a clearing house for al-Qaeda statements and tapes.

On Wednesday, the Monotheism and Jihad Group claimed responsibility for the killing of Iraqi Governing Council President Izzadine Saleem. About six other people were killed in that attack near the headquarters of the US forces in the capital. Saleem was also a member of the Dawa party.

The group is believed to be led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian wanted by the United States for allegedly organising terrorists to fight U.S. troops in Iraq on behalf of al-Qaeda.

Al-Zarqawi is also believed to be responsible for the beheading last week of Nicholas Berg, an American civilian working on reconstruction in Iraq.

- AP