CAIRO — Al Qaida has announced the revival of its network in Sudan.
The network has already claimed responsibility for the execution of the editor of Sudan's independent daily. The execution claim, posted on the website of Al Arabiya satellite channel, marked the group's first announcement.
Western intelligence sources said Al Qaida operatives have become increasingly active in Sudan's war-torn Darfour province. In April 2006, Bin Laden cited Sudan as a new front for the Islamic movement.
In an audiotape, Bin Laden called on supporters to attack United Nations forces in Darfour. The sources said the Khartoum government has not confirmed Al Qaida's presence in Sudan.
Al Qaida said its Sudanese network has begun targeting pro-American and liberal figures in the Arab League state.
Al Qaida claimed its operatives abducted and killed Sudanese editor Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed for writing an article denounced as blasphemous. Ahmed was abducted from his home in Khartoum on Sept. 5 and his body was found the following day.
"Thanks to God's grace, the execution was carried out against a dog of the dogs of the ruling party, the atheist journalist Mohammed Taha, who defamed our prophet Mohammed," the statement said.
This was the first claim of an Al Qaida operation in Sudan since the 1990s. Osama Bin Laden was based in Sudan until 1996 when U.S. pressure forced him to relocate to Afghanistan.
The purported Sudanese network is said to be led by Abu Hafs Al Sudani. The intelligence sources said Abu Hafs was a pseudonym, and did not know his actual identity.
"We do not rule out external involvement, which could be revealed later," said Maj. Gen. Abdul Azzim Rufai, the operations director for Sudan's National Security and Intelligence Service.