KENYA: A purported al-Qaeda statement posted on the Internet yesterday said the group carried out last week's attacks on an Israeli hotel and an airliner in Kenya.
"The fighters of al-Qaeda return to the same place where the Crusader-Jewish coalition was hit four years ago," said the statement, referring to the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The authenticity of the statement, signed by the "Political Office of Qaeda al-Jihad", could not immediately be confirmed.
The missile-launchers fired at an Israeli jetliner were probably from the same lot as one used in a suspected al-Qaeda attack against a US aircraft in Saudi Arabia, said a US official. Two surface-to-air missile launchers recovered after the failed attempt to shoot down the charter plane soon after take-off from Mombasa had serial numbers close to that of a launcher recovered earlier this year outside Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia after what was believed to be an unsuccessful attempt by al-Qaeda to shoot down a US aircraft.