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| Arabia | |
| al-Ablaj communiques from translated al-Sharq al-Awsat | |
| 2004-03-21 | |
Al-Qa'ida Organization has claimed responsibility for the explosion that targeted the Mount Lebanon Hotel [Jabal Lubnan] in Baghdad the day before yesterday. Abu-Muhammad Al-Ablaj, Al-Qa'ida official responsible for training, said in an electronic message sent to Al-Sharq al-Awsat over the Internet yesterday "woe for the Americans and their allies of what is waiting for them in Iraq." Al-Ablaj also said that those whom he described as "the Al-Qa'ida lions, who have had experience in destroying the headquarters of the Russian commanders and who are in Iraq to meet their enemies had planned and carried out the operation", which he regarded as evidence of the "American dilemma" in what he described as "the Iraqi quagmire." Al-Ablaj said: The mujahidin's higher command is present in Iraq to face its enemies and it is making them taste death and humiliation in the Caliphate's capital [Baghdad]. He added that Al-Qa'ida Organization's new strategy has given priority to fighting the United States and its allies in Iraq. Al-Ablaj also said: The explosion which targeted the Mount Lebanon Hotel in the center of the Iraqi capital was carried out on the orders of Al-Qa'ida Organization's leadership, whose lions stick to these orders and carry them out perfectly. He added that what is coming will be greater" and "woes to the Americans and their allies in Iraq from a day that is coming nearer, so let them prepare their coffins even more." In his electronic message, Al-Ablaj tried to distance his organization from the explosions in Karabla and Al-Kazimiyah, saying that his organization "does not target the Shia." | |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |