Al-Qaida admits hotel attack

A STATEMENT attributed to Osama bin Laden’s terror group al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for the bombing of a hotel in Kenya and the attempt to shoot down an Israeli charter jet the same day.

The statement, posted on an Islamic website, called last Thursday’s attacks a Ramadan greeting to the Palestinian people and referred to the al-Qaida attacks against US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, which killed 231 people and wounded more than 5,000.

“At the same place where the ‘Jewish Crusader coalition’ was hit four years ago ... here the fighters of al-Qaida came back once again to strike heavily against that evil coalition. But this time, it was against Jews,” the statement said.