Militant group linked to Al-Qaida claims rocket attacks on Israel

A militant group claiming links to Al-Qaida said on Monday it was behind the firing of rockets into northern Israel last week.

"Your brothers fired two Katyusha rockets from south Lebanon which landed in the Naharia settlement in the north of occupied Palestine," a statement on web sites used by militants said.

It cited Israel's blockade of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza and preventing worshippers praying at the Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem as the reasons for the action.

The statement was signed by the Ziad al-Jarrah division of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades and the posting's headline linked the group to Sunni Muslim militant network al Qaeda.

Ziad al-Jarrah, a Lebanese militant, was one of the group of 19 who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001 in the United States. Abdullah Azzam was a preacher close to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

It was not possible to verify the claim. A group using the name Abdullah Azzam Brigades said it carried out deadly bombings at the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh in 2005.

Israel retaliated to the rocket attack by firing shells. No one was injured on either side.

The Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, which fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006 and has its stronghold in the south, denied responsibility for the February attack.

Bin-Laden issues new tape warning U.S. against ties with IsraelAl-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden warned the American people over their government's close ties with Israel in an apparently new audio tape posted on an Islamist website on Monday.

"The time has come for you to liberate yourselves from fear and the ideological terrorism of neo-conservatives and the Israeli lobby," Bin Laden's latest tape said.

"The reason for our dispute with you is your support for your ally Israel, occupying our land in Palestine."

The message, entitled "A statement to the American people", was around 11 minutes long and was posted a few days after the eighth anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify its authenticity but the website often is used by supporters of al Qaeda.

In the tape, the Al-Qaida leader said there had been no real change in American policy because U.S. President Barack Obama had retained people like U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates from the administration of former President George W. Bush.

"If you think about your situation well, you will know that the White House is occupied by pressure groups," Bin Laden said.

"Rather than fighting to liberate Iraq -- as Bush claimed -- it (the White House) should have been liberated."

The website had said earlier this month it would soon carry a "present" to Muslims from bin Laden on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.

The leader of the group that mounted the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States is thought to be in hiding in the mountainous terrain along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

The attacks carried out by al Qaeda operatives in 2001 killed nearly 3,000 people.

The tape made reference to Obama's speech in Cairo in June, suggesting the message was recorded afterwards. The speaker also appeared to refer to criticisms former U.S. President Jimmy Carter made in June of Israel's Gaza invasion earlier this year.

Bin Laden's last apparent message was issued just before Obama's speech, where the president talked of a "new beginning" between the United States and the Muslim world.

In the new message, bin Laden also referred to U.S. military actions in Afghanistan to support the Afghan government against the Taliban, allies of al Qaeda, and support for Pakistan, which faces militant violence.

"If you stop the war, then fine. Otherwise we will have no choice but to continue our war of attrition on every front... If you choose safety and stopping wars, as opinion polls show you do, then we are ready to respond to this."

"You have only changed the faces in the White House," he said, referring to Obama who took office this year. "Obama is a weakened man. He will not be able to stop the war."