THE al-Qaeda linked group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for a series of car bombings against US and Iraqi targets in Baghdad this week, according to statements posted on an Islamist website today.
Three statements attributed to the military wing of Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), one of the most ruthless groups in Iraq which has claimed some of the deadliest attacks in the country and the beheading of foreign hostages, said suicide bombers had struck at US forces and Iraqi police recruits on Wednesday and yesterday. One of the statements, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, said a suicide operation had "targeted a group of apostates preparing to volunteer into the treacherous police and army... in Al-Rabie (Spring) street in Baghdad" yesterday. A second statement claimed responsibility for another car bomb attack yesterday in Baghdad's upmarket Mansur district, which a witness said apparently targeted two US military vehicles patrolling the area. There was no word of casualties. The third statement said a suicide bomber "targeted the wretched American forces in the capital Baghdad, on the airport road", destroying their vehicles and causing casualties among the troops.
The US military and medical sources said an Iraqi civilian was killed and 19 people, including four US soldiers, were wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on Wednesday on a US patrol on the airport road. |