Islamist in Norway says no tie to Baghdad bomb

Financial Times ^ | September 04 2003

[knighthawk]

OSLO (Reuters) - The founder of a radical Iraqi Islamist organisation has distanced himself from the group after a report a breakaway faction was behind last month's bombing of a U.N. compound in Baghdad.

"Mullah Krekar denies any links to Ansar al-Islam or the Baghdad bombing," Krekar's lawyer Brynjar Meling told Reuters in Oslo on Thursday, where Krekar has lived as a refugee with his family since the 1991 Gulf War.

Meling said Ansar al-Islam, a north Iraq-based militia founded by Krekar, contained extremist factions who may have gained power since Krekar was removed as leader. Krekar has not been in Iraq since mid-2002.

Norway's independent TV2 on Wednesday quoted an Ansar spokesman as saying a splinter group was behind last month's Baghdad attack that killed 22 people and wounded 160.

Washington has said it suspects Ansar of being behind the Baghdad bombing and having links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. But Norway has found no grounds to detain Krekar.

Ansar al-Islam "has comprised several factions and some factions have been more extreme and more militant than others," Meling said. "Mullah Krekar has not been part of the militant wing, quite the contrary."

But Krekar has warned that Washington risks more attacks in Iraq and at home if it fails to give more space to Islam.

Meling has argued for months that Krekar, 47, is not a threat. Oslo is considering a Jordanian request to extradite Krekar on drug smuggling charges and has held up a deportation order him against while he is under investigation.

Krekar expressed willingness to travel to the United States to reply to questions after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Monday during a visit to Norway that Ansar al-Islam was a "very dangerous group" which ran terrorist training camps.

[knighthawk]

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