Sad state of affairs when the citizens have to protect the border.
Al Qaida announces presence in the Gaza Strip
World Tribune.com ^ | 8/05/05
Posted on 08/05/2005 3:37:03 PM EDT by Man50D
ABU DHABI An announcement on an Al Qaida-aligned website said Osama Bin Laden has formed a military presence in Palestinian areas of the Gaza Strip. Israel plans to withdraw from the area by October 2005.
The announcement said Al Qaida has formed a group called "The Jihad Brigades in the Promised Land." The website, which has in the past posted announcements by Iraqi-based insurgency leader Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi, asserted that the group carried out mortar and rocket attacks against Israeli communities in the central Gaza Strip.
The Al Qaida group was said to have used a new rocket called Sajil. The posting did not detail the capabilities of the Sajil. "The Brigades are not a new organization but merely a spirit of faith pushing the jihad fighters in the promised land to close ranks behind an honest and uncompromising leadership," the announcement on Aug. 3 said.
[On Thursday, Al Qaida threatened additional strikes in Britain and said the organization could also attack the United States. In a video broadcast, Al Qaida's No. 2 Ayman Zawahiri said the July 7 suicide bombings in London's mass transit system were the result of British deployment in Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported.]
Israeli military sources dismissed the announcement, which included a videotape of rocket attacks against the Gush Katif bloc of Israeli settlements. The sources said Al Qaida preferred more lethal attacks than mortar and rocket strikes, leaving them to such groups as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
But Israeli and Palestinian sources did not rule out the prospect that the purported Al Qaida group comprised an existing Palestinian militia. They pointed out that Bin Laden adopted Al Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad and renamed it Al Qaida in Iraq. Al Zarqawi has also established cells in Jordan.
One prospect was that the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees, founded in 2001, has been adopted by Al Qaida. The PRC, composed largely of Fatah insurgents, have maintained mortar and rocket fire against Israeli targets and issued statements that resemble those of Al Zarqawi.
Palestinian sources said the PRC was directed by Al Qaida-aligned elements. The group was said to be led by Jamal Abu Samhadana, based in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. PRC claimed responsibility for the ambush of a U.S. embassy convoy in 2003 in which three U.S. security guards were killed
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