Group threatens attacks on Rome (Another group)

A GROUP claiming links to al-Qaeda threatened to attack Rome to punish Italy for supporting the United States, and praised the bomb blasts in London, a website statement said today.

The statement did not appear on Web sites normally used by Islamist militants loyal to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "We warn Rome, the capital of infidels, that the lions of Jihad in Europe are ready to launch strong strikes against the collaborating government with the crusaders, the Americans, the enemies of God, the Prophet and Muslims," it said.

Advertisement: "With the help of God, a group of honourable mujahideen carried out successful attacks on three (London) underground stations and a bus," said the statement in the name of the little-known Organisation of al Qaeda - Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula.

It gave timings for each of yesterday's attacks, referring to them as "explosions", implying they were not suicide attacks, which militants normally describe as "martyrdom operations".

More than 50 people were killed in the coordinated rush-hour attacks which Britain said bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda.

Seven hundred people were also wounded when three explosions tore through crowded London underground trains within an hour and another ripped the roof off a double-decker bus.

The previously unknown Secret Group of al-Qaeda - Jihad in Europe today claimed responsibility for the attacks, but British and US officials said it was not clear the claim was authentic.

There was no way to verify the authenticity of today's statement purporting to come from an al Qaeda-linked group.

It's hard to tell....

I get an increasing feeling that the populace is split at different ratios around Europe between those that would blame Blair and Bush etc, and those that would blame the terrorists.

I suspect the attitudes of both camps might harden.

However, below this division I do feel there is an increasing groundswell of disgust among the "common folks" that is disgusted by the terrorists.

With many and sustained attacks, I am fairly certain that nations will ultimately unite in anger against the enemy.

The warning in and of itself is not typical of Al Qaeda. If they say they will strike Rome, it's not al Qaeda, and there will probably not be a terror attack in Rome. They may make general statements about which countries are considered enemies of Islam, but I don't recall any threats with specific targets that were ever followed with an attack. I hope I am correct in asserting that these guys are going to go underground again for another year or so. Once they expose a tentacle, they have to protect the other tentacles from being cut off at the same time. If there were going to be additional attacks, they would have occurred simultaneously, not 24 hours later. That's too much time for authorities to potentiallty disrupt and destroy other activated cells. The only thing I would be concerned about would be a follow-on attack in the vain of the anthrax mailings.

This doesn't mean that Rome is not the next target, however, there have been multiple public threats against Rome ever since the War in Iraq began, to no avail. So here they attack London, the wannabe terrorists start spewing their garbage thinking they can get some mileage out of the lingering shock, and meanwhile, the real al Qaeda seeps into the background until they can pull off another attack.

That said, this attack on London only proves that even with all the security measures instituted across the globe after 9/11, assumedly 20 or more members of al Qaeda were able to painstakingly plan and execute multiple simultaneous bombings without detection. When we are finished mourning the dead (God rest their souls), we need to chew on that fact and realize that we have a long way to go before we can claim victory against the terrorists.

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