An Islamic umbrella group presided over by a Saudi dissident, Mr Ossama bin Laden (41), resolved to strike at US interests worldwide in a June meeting in Pakistan, an Islamic faction in London said yesterday.
The bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were "probably led by militants from the International Islamic Front" following this agreement in Peshawar, said a spokesman for the al-Muhajirun (the exiled) group.
The spokesman, who asked not to be named, said cracks had appeared in the ranks of the International Islamic Front since the attacks.
This dissent has been caused by the opposition of several of the group's factions, including al-Muhajirun, to violence that intentionally claims the lives of civilians, he said.
Mr Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire stripped of his nationality in 1994 for financing terrorism, has repeatedly called for attacks on both civilian and military American targets from his hideout in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan at the weekend, the Taliban said Mr bin Laden had nothing to do with the embassy attacks. A senior spokesman, Mr Abdul Hai Mutmaent, said any suggestions pointing towards Mr bin Laden's involvement were baseless propaganda.
Those who attended the Peshawar meeting decided to "hit American interests throughout the world . . . to pressure the US into withdrawing their forces from the Gulf region and lift the embargo on Iraq", the spokesman said.
The International Islamic Front, a loose coalition founded in Saudi Arabia in August 1990, includes Egypt's Jihad and Jamaa Islamiya armed groups, Jordan's Mohammad's Army, Kashmir's Ansar movement and several other factions, including al-Muhajirun.
An Israeli expert on counter-terrorism, Mr Ely Karmon, called Mr bin Laden the "undisputed leader" of the International Islamic Front. "The Islamic front has now moved from the constituent and organisational phase to the operational phase," Mr Karmon said.
In Cairo, an expert in armed Islamist groups from the Al-Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies, Diaa Rashwan, said it was "very likely" that the coalition of eight Islamist groups was behind the bombings.
But he said Jamaa Islamiya's chief, Mr Rifai Ahmed Taha, had denied a week ago through the Internet that his organisation was part of the alliance.
Al-Muhajirun, created in Saudi Arabia in 1983 but now based in London, is led by a Syrian national Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad, its spokesman said.
In a statement, the group said, "we regret the innocent deaths among the civilians who are nothing to do with the US embassies", but "we endorse and applaud" the bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.
"Al-Muhajirun salutes the message that has been sent, American interests are not safe anywhere in the world," the statement said. "The Muslims will never rest until their land is liberated from the occupiers and the authority to rule restored to the Muslims from the tyrant, self-appointed, puppet leaders in Muslim countries such as [President Hosni] Mubarak of Egypt, [King] Fahd of [Saudi] Arabia, [President Liamine] Zeroual of Algeria, [and Muammar] Kadhafi of Libya," the statement said.
The attacks on the US embassies have been claimed in statements to several international news organisations by the previously unknown Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Muslim Holy Sites.
In a statement to Radio France Internationale the group declared its "determination to . . . strike US interests" until its demands are met.