Free Republic

Terrorism analysts say al Qaeda may have conducted their first operation in Gaza. This after a video was released today of the two Fox News journalists held hostage since August 14 along with an accompanying written statement issued by a previously unknown group calling itself the "Holy Jihad Brigades." The language in the statement, which denounces the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is similar in style and content to the kind of dispatches issued by Abu Musab al Zarqawi when he was leading al Qaeda in Iraq. One sentence states, "You infidels and masters of oppression: Convert to Islam...

‘‘We hereby declare that we have begun operating in Palestine,’’ the leaflet distributed in the name of Al-Tawhid and jihad said heaping praises on Al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi. ‘‘We have decided to revive the Sunnah (one of the sources of Islamic jurisprudence) of slaughter against these people to avoid dissension,’’ the Jerusalem Post quoted the leaflet circulated in Gaza as saying. This is the first time the group, believed to be headed by Jordanian terrorist Zarqawi, has issued a leaflet in Gaza. A Hamas spokesman denied any connection to the threats, saying they did not...