Al Qaeda claims missile attack on Israel

Al Qaeda in Iraq says in Islamic website statement it had launched missiles at Israel from Lebanon. ‘The lion sons of al Qaeda launched ... A new attack on the Jewish state by launching 10 missiles ... From the Muslims' lands in Lebanon on selected targets in the north of the Jewish state,’ statement says

Reuters|Last update: 12.29.05 , 20:39

Al Qaeda in Iraq said it had launched missiles at Israel from Lebanon as part of a "new attack" on the Jewish state, a statement posted on the Web said on Thursday.

"The lion sons of al Qaeda launched ... A new attack on the Jewish state by launching 10 missiles ... From the Muslims' lands in Lebanon on selected targets in the north of the Jewish state," said the statement, attributed to al Qaeda and posted on an Islamist Web site. It did not give the date of the attack.

'The future shall be more bitter'

It appeared to be the first claim of responsibility from al Qaeda for an attack on Israel from Lebanon. The statement could not be authenticated, but was posted on a main Web site frequently used by Iraqi insurgent groups.

It was not immediately clear if the group was referring to a rocket strike which wounded three people in an Israeli border town late on Tuesday, or some other attack.

Israeli warplanes attacked a Palestinian terror group’s training camp in Lebanon in response to that rocket attack.

“This auspicious attack was a response by the mujahideen (holy fighters) to the oath by the mujahid sheikh Osama bin Laden, leader of al Qaeda ... Which the (Jews) and idolaters’ servants in Muslim countries failed to grasp. The future shall be more bitter and more harsh,” said the statement.

Defense officials said they did not recognize the terror group’s claim of responsibility for the Katyusha rocket attack on the north of Israel, adding that it was not yet clear who was directly behind the rocket fire.

They added, however, that they were not ruling out that parts of the claim of responsibility may be true.

In August, Iraq’s al Qaeda said it was behind a failed rocket attack on U.S. Navy ships in Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba.