Al-Qaida sends letter on Iraq attacks; UK: Terrorists flooding

By: Sultan Ahmed

CAIRO, Egypt: A letter purported to come from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network denied responsibility for attacks in the holy cities of Karbala and Kazemiyah during Ashoura processions that left at least 271 husseini mourners martyred, blaming American troops instead.

The letter was received on Wednesday via e-mail by the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper and shared with The Associated Press in Cairo.

The newspaper has previously received similar letters from the same brigade in which they claimed responsibility for a November bombing of two synagogues in Turkey and the August bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

The letter was signed by al-Qaida's Abu Hafs al-Masri brigades, and its authenticity could not be verified.

An editor at the newspaper said that the paper intended to publish it in its Thursday edition.

Iraqi clerics and politicians, Shiite and Sunni alike, have characterized the attacks as al-Qaida attempts at sparking a sectarian war and have insisted Iraqis are united.

US Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of operations in Iraq on Wednesday dismissed al-Qaida's purported denial, though he did not comment on the letter's authenticity.

Suspicion has fallen on al-Qaida in part because of an alleged letter by suspected al-Qaida operative Abu Musab az-Zarqawi, intercepted by the US in January, that proposed attacking Shiite religious sites to draw them into a civil war against Sunni Arabs. Iraqi Governing Council members cited that letter repeatedly in pointing the finger for Tuesday's bombings at al-Qaida.

Iranian vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi also has blamed al-Qaida for the attacks.

The US military commander Gen. John Abizaid said Wednesday American forces have intelligence linking Jordanian militant Abu Musab az-Zarqawi to the series of suicide bombings in Iraq holy cities against mourners.

“The level of organization and the desire to cause casualties among innocent worshippers is a clear hallmark of the Zarqawi network and we have intelligence that ties Zarqawi to this attack,” he said.

Officials also have intelligence showing that “there is some linkage” between Zarqawi and elements of the former Saddam regime, Abizaid told the House Armed Services Committee in a hearing on the Pentagon budget.

Meanwhile, Ayatullah Ali as-Sistani blamed the US-led occupation forces in Iraq for failing to secure the country's borders and called for unity after Tuesday's deadly attacks on holy shrines of Chief of Prophets Prophet Muhammad (p)’s infallible descendants.

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told parliament Wednesday that terrorists, literally, from every extremist group from across the Middle East are flooding Iraq, bent on causing mayhem and instability.

Blair's envoy to Iraq, Jeremy Greenstock, said further bloodshed would inevitably follow Tuesday's suicide bombings and mortar attacks. He predicted British and US troops would need to remain in Iraq for at least two more years to help establish stability.

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