Al-Qaida group ‘behind Iraq attacks’

A GROUP saying it is an Iraqi branch of the al-Qaida terror network said it - and not Saddam Hussein – is behind the armed resistance against US forces in Iraq, according to a tape shown on an Arab TV station today.

The Dubai-based al-Arabiya satellite station aired a four-minute video tape showing a black-and-white still photograph of a man dressed as an Islamic cleric with a message read over the top by a distorted male voice.

The identity of the man in the photograph was not immediately clear. An executive from the station had no details on the man.

The voice on the tape, which was delivered to the station’s Baghdad office, described himself as a member of the “Islamic Armed Group of al Qaida, Fallujah branch.”

The voice on the tape denied that Iraq’s deposed president has had anything to do with the continuing Iraqi resistance against the presence of US-led forces in Iraq, saying his group was behind the series of fatal attacks.

“We warn the American forces to leave Iraq’s territories and to live up to their promises,” the voice said.

“I call on the Iraqi people not to believe what the toppled leader said,” the voice added, while urging Iraqis not to follow their “emotions”.