Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Iraq Attacks-Web Site

A group headed by al Qaeda-linked operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks across Iraq on Thursday which killed 75 people.

"Your brothers in Jama’at al-Tawhid and Jihad launched a wide assault in several governorates in the country which included strikes against the apostate police agents and spies, the Iraq army alongside their American brothers," said an Arabic-language statement in the name of the group.

"Your brothers in the martyrdom brigade also carried out several blessed operations including five in Mosul on five Iraqi police centers, two operations in Baquba and another in Ramadi," said the statement which was posted on an Islamist Web site.

It said one of its fighters also struck an inspection point in the capital Baghdad which it said was set up by "shocked and shaken" Iraqi and occupation forces after the attacks.

The statement, whose authenticity could not be immediately verified, said details of the operations would be issued soon.

Guerrillas struck in Baquba, Falluja, Ramadi, Mosul and Baghdad, wounding more than 250 people in an intensification of a bloody campaign by Iraqi rebels and foreign militants. Three U.S. soldiers were killed.

Iraq’s interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, said he believed Ansar al-Islam, a group previously linked to Zarqawi, was behind the Mosul bombings. But he blamed Baathists loyal to Saddam Hussein for the attacks in Ramadi and Baquba.

Jama’at al-Tawhid and Jihad has claimed responsibility for many attacks in Iraq, including this week’s beheading of a South Korean hostage. (Reuters)

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