Al-Qaida claims it carried out Kenyan attacks

OSAMA BIN LADEN'S al-Qaida network claimed responsibility for the twin attacks in Kenya which killed 16 people in an audio tape aired yesterday.

"I hereby confirm what has been issued by al-Qaida political office regarding our responsibility for the Mombasa attacks in Kenya," an al-Qaida spokesman, Sulaiman Bu Ghaith, said in a statement aired by Qatar's al Jazeera channel.

Bu Ghaith is one of the leading al-Qaida members being sought by the United States and has been in hiding since the US launched its attack on Afghanistan last October.