A Sunni insurgent group has claimed responsibility for a deadly roadside bomb attack on a British patrol this week in southern Iraq, according to a message posted on a militant website. The Mujahedeen Army, or Jaish al-Mujahedeen, said it was responsible for planting the explosives that killed four British servicemen and their Kuwaiti interpreter on April 5, said the US-based SITE Institute, which monitors Islamist sites. The group set up an ambush in the early morning hours against the British patrol, planting an improvised explosive device near the southern city of Basra which detonated as a British armored vehicle approached the area, it said. The explosion "led to its complete destruction and the death of those who were in it," and was followed by an exchange of fire "which led to the injury of several British soldiers," it said. The British military said earlier this week that the four soldiers and civilian translator travelling in the same vehicle were killed outside Basra in a complex roadside bomb, small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade attack.
Jaish al-Mujahedeen first emerged in February 2005 when it claimed the abduction of two Indonesian journalists, who were freed after nearly a week in captivity. It has since taken credit for several attacks in Iraq, including shooting down a US Blackhawk helicopter in February.