| "We dunnit an' we're glad!" |
An Islamic website carried a claim for deadly explosions in Istanbul signed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades and warning of more such attacks in Europe. "The Abu Hafs Brigades have carried out the first of a series of operations that will be launched in the face of European states...and the upcoming attacks will be more violent," said the statement posted on the website Tuesday. It said the strikes were ordered after "all European states rejected the truce offered by our sheikh," Al-Qaeda terror group chief Osama bin Laden.
| I'd add salt, Abu Hafs tends to claim a lot of stuff. |
Attacks targeting tourist hotels and a gas complex killed two people and wounded another 11 in Istanbul on Tuesday. "The bitterness that Muslims are tasting in Iraq and Palestine will be tasted by everyone living in Europe, in Istanbul, Rome and the rest of the countries that are following the policy of the United States," the statement said. A subsequent statement "will disclose the way the mujahedin (fighters) arrived at the site (of the bombing) and how they succeeded in planting the bombs and get away safely," it said.
| They're waiting to find out so they can boast how clever they are. |
It was the latest in a series of warnings attributed to the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades before and after the expiry of Bin Laden's truce offer on July 15, directed notably at Italy but also including Britain and Bulgaria. In a taped message broadcast by the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television on April 15 the Al-Qaeda chief offered peace to European countries that refrained from aggression towards Muslims and pulled their troops out of the Muslim world within three months from its announcement. European leaders promptly dismissed the offer, saying the idea of negotiating with bin Laden was absurd. The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades claimed responsibility for the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, which killed 191 people, as well as for November 2003 bombings in Istanbul that killed 25 people. |