REPORT: 'Qaeda-Style' Group Maybe Behind Madrid Blasts

Monday, March 15, 2004
(time)
By Abdul Raheem Ali

Islam Online Staff

"There is no group called Abu Hafs Al-Masri in the first place. Al-Qaeda used to claim responsibility for the attacks through audio tapes in the voice of Bin Laden or his top aide Ayman Al-Zawahri," said Yasser Serri, head of the London-based Islamic Observation Center. Serri doubted the credibility of the group, saying it had claimed responsibility of a number of attacks which later proved untrue. The same group claimed responsibility for the huge power failures in New York and Canada last year, failures which turned out to have nothing to do with terrorism.

CAIRO -- IO
Stressing that "Al-Qaeda is no longer limited to Bin Laden and his followers, sources close to militant Islamic groups said that he Madrid blasts are probably not the work of Al-Qaeda group, rather it could be the work of ‘Al-Qaeda-style’ groups, with similar vision and targets to those of Osama bin Laden's network.

"People whose ideology and ideas are close to those of Al-Qaeda staged the bombings," Omar Bakri told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, March 14.

Bakri, the head of the London-based extremist Jama'at Al-Muhajirun, said that the blasts – which left some 200 people dead and some 1,500 others injured five days ago – came in reaction to policies of the United States and its allies.

"These groups, already sympathetic with Al-Qaeda, were pushed by what the U.S., European allies as well as Arab and Islamic puppet countries do against Islam and believers," Bakri said over phone.

“The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq added more salt to their injuries and made them more angry”, he added.

Spain’s Interior Minister Angel Acebes said earlier on Sunday that Al-Qaeda network has claimed anew responsibility for Madrid’s train blasts in a videotaped message.

On the tape, a man claiming to be the military spokesman of Al-Qaeda said the attacks came in reprisal for Spain’s staunchest support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The U.S. launches an open war against Islam and Muslims across the world, and the Mujahedeen face up to Washington and its allies in a similarly open war regarding goals and grounds," Bakri said.

Bakri warned against what he called more upcoming attacks in spots mentioned or insinuated at in Al-Qaeda statements.

"Al-Qaeda's recent statements indicated a potential attacks against Italy, Australia and the United States," he said.

Bakri’s group, considered extremist, organized last year a conference on motives leading the 19 hijackers, who Washington blames for the 9/11, to carry out the attacks.

* No Longer Limited To Bin Laden

* Abu Hafs Al-Masri Is A Myth

* 'Electronic Agents'

(More: IslamOnline.net)

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Dan