IRAQ: Militants claiming links to al-Qaeda vowed in a statement on Wednesday to launch a "bloody war" on Europe after a "truce" offered by Osama bin Laden expired earlier this month.
"Today, we have declared a bloody war on you and we will not stop raids against you until you return to the correct path," said the statement signed by Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades and posted on an Islamist Web site, which has carried previous statements from the group.
"After the truce determined by our Sheikh Osama bin Laden ended, and after you have not returned to the correct path, we declare a war in your faces and in the face of your silent people whose silence proves their support to you," it added. The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified.
The group had warned in an internet statement earlier this month it would launch new attacks on Europe once the truce, which expired in mid-July, ended.
Al-Qaeda leader bin Laden, in an audiotape on April 15th, gave European states three months to pull troops out of Afghanistan, Iraq and other Muslim countries or face new attacks like the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people on March 11th. - (Reuters)