ABU DHABI — An announcement on an Al Qaida-aligned website said Osama Bin Laden has
formed a military presence in Palestinian areas of the Gaza Strip. Israel
plans to withdraw from the area by October 2005.
The announcement said Al Qaida has formed a group called "The Jihad
Brigades in the Promised Land."
The website, which has in the past posted announcements
by Iraqi-based insurgency leader Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi, asserted that the
group carried out mortar and rocket attacks against Israeli communities in
the central Gaza Strip.
[On Thursday, Al Qaida threatened additional strikes in Britain and said
the organization could also attack the United States. In a video broadcast,
Al Qaida's No. 2 Ayman Zawahiri said the July 7 suicide bombings in London's
mass transit system were the result of British deployment in Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported.]
The Al Qaida group was said to have used a new rocket called Sajil. The
posting did not detail the capabilities of the Sajil.
"The Brigades are not a new organization but merely a spirit of faith
pushing the jihad fighters in the promised land to close ranks behind an
honest and uncompromising leadership," the announcement on Aug. 3
said.
Israeli military sources dismissed the announcement, which included a
videotape of rocket attacks against the Gush Katif bloc of Israeli
settlements. The sources said Al Qaida preferred more lethal attacks than
mortar and rocket strikes, leaving them to such groups as Hamas and Islamic
Jihad.
But Israeli and Palestinian sources did not rule out the prospect that
the purported Al Qaida group comprised an existing Palestinian militia. They
pointed out that Bin Laden adopted Al Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad and renamed
it Al Qaida in Iraq. Al Zarqawi has also established cells in Jordan.
One prospect was that the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees,
founded in
2001, has been adopted by Al Qaida. The PRC, composed largely of Fatah
insurgents, have maintained mortar and rocket fire against Israeli targets
and issued statements that resemble those of Al Zarqawi.
Palestinian sources said the PRC was directed by Al Qaida-aligned
elements. The group was said to be led by Jamal Abu Samhadana, based in the
southern Gaza town of Rafah. PRC claimed responsibility for the ambush of a
U.S. embassy convoy in 2003 in which three U.S. security guards were killed.
