ID :
65399
Thu, 06/11/2009 - 19:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/65399
The shortlink copeid
AA Shaheed Brigade claims responsibility for Peshawar attack
Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, June 11 (PTI) A little-known group led by a
militant commander with links to the Pakistani Taliban has
claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing of the
Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar, saying it was even
capable of carrying out an attack in the federal capital.
Amir Muawiya, claiming himself a spokesman of the
Abdullah Azzam Shaheed Brigade, telephoned reporters in
northwestern Kohat town Wednesday to claim responsibility for
Tuesday's attack on the five-star hotel and warned the group
would carry out more such bombings.
Asked for proof that his group had carried out the
attack on the Pearl Continental, Muawiya said his organisation
would be willing to explode a small bomb outside the BBC
office in Islamabad to prove its power and capability.
Muawiya said the bombing was carried out in
retaliation for operations by Pakistani armed forces "at the
behest of the US" in Swat and Malakand division of the North
West Frontier Province and the tribal areas of Darra Adam Khel
and Aurakzai Agency. He claimed "important people", including
foreigners, were killed when the hotel was bombed.
Seventeen people, including at least three foreigners,
were killed and over 50 were injured in the attack on the
Pearl Continental, which is located in the high-security
cantonment in Peshawar.
A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with 500 kg
of explosives in the hotel's parking lot, reducing a section
of the building into rubble.
Muawiya also claimed responsibility for other recent
terrorist attacks in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. He
claimed his group had carried out the attack on the police
training centre at Manawan near Lahore and the bombing of NATO
transport terminals on the outskirts of Peshawar.
Reports said Muawiya is a Pakistani Taliban commander
operating in Darra Adam Khel, which is located between NWFP
capital Peshawar and Kohat. His group, which is led by
commander Tariq Afridi, is affiliated to Baitullah Mehsud's
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Muawiya told reporters that different groups used to
claim responsibility for bomb attacks till now but the central
'shura' or council of Taliban and al-Qaeda had decided that
only the Abdullah Azzam Shaheed Brigade would do so in future.
Reports said the name of Muawiya's group was
apparently intended to honour late Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, a
Palestinian from Jordan who was among the first Arab nationals
to volunteer to join the jihad against forces of the former
Soviet Union that occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Azzam is credited with convincing Osama bin Laden,
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Sheikh Omar Abdur Rahman and others to come
to Peshawar and take part in the Afghan war against Soviet
forces. Azzam was killed with his two sons in a bomb blast in
Peshawar in the late 1980s. PTI RHL
SKT
NNNN
Islamabad, June 11 (PTI) A little-known group led by a
militant commander with links to the Pakistani Taliban has
claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing of the
Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar, saying it was even
capable of carrying out an attack in the federal capital.
Amir Muawiya, claiming himself a spokesman of the
Abdullah Azzam Shaheed Brigade, telephoned reporters in
northwestern Kohat town Wednesday to claim responsibility for
Tuesday's attack on the five-star hotel and warned the group
would carry out more such bombings.
Asked for proof that his group had carried out the
attack on the Pearl Continental, Muawiya said his organisation
would be willing to explode a small bomb outside the BBC
office in Islamabad to prove its power and capability.
Muawiya said the bombing was carried out in
retaliation for operations by Pakistani armed forces "at the
behest of the US" in Swat and Malakand division of the North
West Frontier Province and the tribal areas of Darra Adam Khel
and Aurakzai Agency. He claimed "important people", including
foreigners, were killed when the hotel was bombed.
Seventeen people, including at least three foreigners,
were killed and over 50 were injured in the attack on the
Pearl Continental, which is located in the high-security
cantonment in Peshawar.
A suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with 500 kg
of explosives in the hotel's parking lot, reducing a section
of the building into rubble.
Muawiya also claimed responsibility for other recent
terrorist attacks in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. He
claimed his group had carried out the attack on the police
training centre at Manawan near Lahore and the bombing of NATO
transport terminals on the outskirts of Peshawar.
Reports said Muawiya is a Pakistani Taliban commander
operating in Darra Adam Khel, which is located between NWFP
capital Peshawar and Kohat. His group, which is led by
commander Tariq Afridi, is affiliated to Baitullah Mehsud's
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Muawiya told reporters that different groups used to
claim responsibility for bomb attacks till now but the central
'shura' or council of Taliban and al-Qaeda had decided that
only the Abdullah Azzam Shaheed Brigade would do so in future.
Reports said the name of Muawiya's group was
apparently intended to honour late Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, a
Palestinian from Jordan who was among the first Arab nationals
to volunteer to join the jihad against forces of the former
Soviet Union that occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Azzam is credited with convincing Osama bin Laden,
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Sheikh Omar Abdur Rahman and others to come
to Peshawar and take part in the Afghan war against Soviet
forces. Azzam was killed with his two sons in a bomb blast in
Peshawar in the late 1980s. PTI RHL
SKT
NNNN
