Unknown group claims UN atrocity

A PREVIOUSLY unknown group has said it bombed the UN headquarters in Baghdad as the UN said it was pulling a third of its staff out of Iraq.

"We, the Armed Vanguards of the Second Muhammad Army, claim responsibility for the bombing of the UN headquarters. We say it proudly that we did not hesitate for one moment to kill Crusader blood," read a typewritten, Arabic statement that Al-Arabiya TV broadcast.

The statement included a pledge "to continue fighting every foreigner in Iraq and to carry out similar operations".