SIGHTINGS


 
Islamic Groups Warn
Of More Attacks
And 'Black Fate' For US
8-19-98
 
 
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- A coalition of Islamic militant groups warned in an Arabic newspaper today that "strikes will continue from everywhere" against the United States.
 
 
The statement from the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, formed by exiled Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden in February, was printed today in the London-based daily Al-Hayat.
 
 
"The coming days will guarantee, God willing, that America will face a black fate," the statement said. "Strikes will continue from everywhere, and Islamic groups will appear one after the other to fight American interests."
 
 
The Jihad front is believed to be a coalition of six fundamentalist groups from Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Its statement was sent Tuesday to Al-Hayat's bureau in Cairo.
 
 
Al-Hayat said it came with three other statements from the Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Shrines, which claimed responsibility for the two deadly bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya on Aug. 7.
 
 
In one statement, the Holy Shrines group said it would "continue shipping more American dead bodies to their unjust government ... until we humiliate America's arrogance and roll its dignity in the mud of defeat."
 
 
The group had not been heard of before the explosions in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which left 257 people dead and more than 5,500 injured. Among the dead were 12 Americans.
 
 
The separate statement from the Jihad coalition tied the motive for the embassy attacks to U.S. involvement in Somalia in the early 1990s.
 
 
"The two embassies, which the Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Shrines bombed, have supervised the killings of at least 13,000 Somali civilians in the treacherous attack led by America against this Muslim country," it said.
 
 
A U.N. peacekeeping mission dominated by the United States landed in Somalia in late 1992 and provided protection for food distribution to help end a famine in the east African country.
 
 
But the U.N. force became bogged down in Somalia's factional fighting, and 18 U.S. soldiers were killed before the force withdrew in 1995 without solving the political problems.
 
 
The statement from the Jihad coalition said when the Holy Shrines group claimed responsibility for the bombings "it became clear to everyone, including the American people, that we were not lying when we warned them."
 
 
The group had issued a warning of attacks, printed in Al-Hayat, several days before the embassy bombings.
 
 
Al-Hayat said the three other statements of the Holy Shrines group were titled "Open Letter to the Kenyan people," "Congratulations" and "A Communique to People."
 
 
The first statement said that the Nairobi's bombing "was targeting the American presence only ... and the Islamic Army's intention was not to hurt Kenyan people."
 
 
The second was to congratulate Muslims "for taking revenge from the American Crusader criminal gang."
 
 
The third warned of more attacks and asked Muslims "not to get close to anything American ... so that they won't be hit by the fire of the soldiers of God" by mistake.





SIGHTINGS HOMEPAGE