(KUNA) -- Syria on Wednesday denied Lebanese allegations that a Palestinian splinter group, Fatah Al-Islam, had detonated bombs in two passenger buses in Lebanon last month by instigation from Syria. Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdel-Majid, who was asked to comment on the Lebanese allegations regarding the Palestinian group, denied the allegations arguing that the group (Fatah Al-Islam) was linked to Al-Qaeda and planned to launch terrorist attacks in Syria before its underground activities were uncovered in August 2002.The Syrian minister said that some of the group's members were arrested, along with the group's leader Shaker Al-Absi, a Jordanian Palestinian born in the city of Jericho. The Syrian minister said Al-Absi was coordinating with Al-Qaeda's late chief in Iraq, Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi in order to launch terrorist attack together. "The group's members were prosecuted in Syria," the minister said.
He added that Al-Absi was released after serving three year in jail with forced labor. "But later reports showed that he had resumed planning terrorist attacks along with Al-Qaeda operatives and training some of their members," the minister said.
He added that Al-Absi was now at large and an investigation was underway to learn his whereabouts, specifically since a warrant for his arrest has been issued by Syrian authorities. Abdel-Majid described Lebanese allegations as strange and "fall within the pack of stories and accusations invented against Syria for the sake of unsettling the internal situation in Lebanon and ruining Lebanon's relation with Syria." Lebanese Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa had said the men (Palestinians) were members of the Fatah al-Islam, a small Palestinian group which he linked to Syrian intelligence. Fatah al-Islam broke away last year from Fatah al-Intifada, another Palestinian group.
Four of the Syrian Palestinian gang were caught and admitted involvement in the bombing of two buses in the Meten town of Ain Alaq killing three people and injuring more than 10. A fifth gang member, also Syrian, is on the run, Sabaa said.