| An Islamist website carried a statement in which the al-Qaeda linked group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed Friday's double attacks in Baghdad that killed at least 26 people. "The lions of the al-Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Country of Two Rivers struck the lairs of the apostates who cheaply sold off their religion and honour," it said, in a statement whose authenticity was impossible to verify. It referred to attacks on police in al-Adhamiya district of the Iraqi capital and al-Saydiya post in the al-Amel area that medics and interior ministry officials in Baghdad said killed a total of at least 26 people. "The lions attacked the Al-Saydiya post and killed all those at the scene, apart from two who managed to escape," the statement said. The assailants "set ablaze six parked police vehicles and took all the equipment" from the post, said the group, whose leader is the most wanted man in Iraq with a $25-million bounty on his head. The al-Qaeda group gave no details on a suicide car bombing in Al-Adhamiya, but added that two police patrols were also attacked in Baghdad on Friday and all the members killed. |