Posted on 08/27/2004 12:25:21 AM PDT by bunkerhill7
Latest News | Updated Aug 27, 2.30 pm (Singapore time) http://straitstimes.com/latest/story/0,4390,269529,00.html?
Militant group claims downing of Russian planes
CAIRO - A claim of responsibility for the downing of two Russian planes appeared on a website known for militant Muslim comment on Friday.
The statement, which accused Russians of killing Muslims in Chechnya, was signed 'The Islambouli Brigades'. A group with a similar name has claimed at least one previous attack, but the legitimacy of the group and the authenticity of such statements could not be verified. Advertisement
Russian officials have said terrorism was the most likely cause of Tuesday's plane crashes, which killed a total of 89 people.
'We in the Islambouli Brigades announce that our holy warriors managed to hijack two Russian planes and were crowned with success though they faced problems at the beginning', the statement said without elaborating on the problems.
A July 31 web statement signed the 'Islambouli Brigades of Al-Qaeda' claimed responsibility for the attempt to assassinate Mr Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan's Prime Minister-designate. Friday's claim did not refer to Al-Qaeda, the international terror network led by Osama bin Laden.
Lieutenant Khaled Islambouli was the leader of the group of soldiers who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a military parade in Cairo in 1981.
Friday's statement said five mujahideen were on board each plane and their wills will be published soon.
The statement did not explain how the hijackers boarded the planes, how they downed them or give any other details.
'Russia's slaughtering of Muslims is continuing and will only stop when a bloody war is launched,' the statement said. 'Our mujahideen, with God's grace, succeeded in directing the first blow which will be followed by a series of other operations in a wave to extend support and victory to our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim areas which suffer from Russian faithlessness.' -- AP
And I wonder if Russia finds itself in big trouble....who, oh who, will they come crying to for help?
France...Canada...Germany....?
They'll come crying to the good old U.S. of A., and we'll give them the help, because #1, we're nice like that, and #2, combating terrorism on any front is the new reality of this war.
Problem to me is it's almost a duplicate scenario to the Madrid bombing in that it happened relatively close to an election. (Thank you very much Spain for proving to the world that your strategy worked.)
Now, I think this makes the threats that AQ wants to disrupt our election all the more credible.
Al Qaeda enforces a rule for its members not to claim responsibility for terrorist acts in any way that subjects the group to legal retribution.
Prior to 9/11, they generally did not claim responsibility at all, while since then they attribute an action to an imaginary group with obvious but not actionable ties to Al Qaeda.
I am also sure they find great amusement in their enemy's confusion and agrumentative attempts to place blame, wavering back and forth between "not Al Qaeda" and "Al Qaeda.
Bottom line, multiple terror attacks occurring simultaneously or nearly simultaneously should be considered the work of Al Qaeda until the opposite is proven, not the other way around.
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