Militants claim arson attack

2004-08-22 21:59

Dubai - A previously unknown group has claimed responsibility for an arson attack on a Jewish centre in Paris, in a statement posted on an Islamic website on Sunday.

"A group of young mujahedeen (fighters) ... have torched the Jewish temple in Paris at 04:00 Paris time," said the Arabic statement posted in the name of the Jamaat Ansar Al-Jihad al-Islamiya.

The claim could not be independently verified.

The group said the attack was "in response to racist acts by Jews in France against Islam and the Muslims and the desecration of Muslim cemeteries by Jews."

"It is also meant ... as a simple response to the racist and savage acts by Jews in Muslim countries like Palestine and other Muslim and Arab countries," it said.

It said such "acts are carried out by the descendents of monkeys and pigs, with the help of the French government which stands idle before the Jews at the expense of the Muslims in France."

The centre, situated in central Paris, was gutted by the fire early Sunday. Police found swastikas daubed in red ink on two fridges inside and poorly spelled anti-Semitic slogans.

France is home to Europe's biggest Jewish and Muslim communities, estimated at 650 000 and five million respectively, out of an overall population of 60 million.

- AFP