Al-Qaida-linked group claims responsibility for suicide attack in Baghdad
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - A group linked to al-Qaida claimed responsibility 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 Web site.
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.
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 Web site known as a clearing house for
al-Qaida 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 U.S.-run
coalition 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 organizing terrorists to fight U.S. troops in
Iraq on behalf of al-Qaida.
Al-Zarqawi is also believed responsible for the beheading last week of Nicholas
Berg, an American civilian working on reconstruction in Iraq.
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