Al-Qaeda Appeared in the Blog Claims Bombing

The Internet blog from "Al-Qaeda Organisation Indonesia" claimed responsibility for the bombs attacks two weeks ago. Police was being investigated the July 17 twin suicide blasts, and they could not tell if the claim was authentic. The message in Indonesian and Arabic is signed by "Abu Muawwidz Nur Din bin Muhammad Top" and praises two "holy warrior brothers" who blew themselves up at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in central Jakarta. The statement said the attacks were a "martyrdom operation for jihad" intended as "retribution for the deeds of America and its agents against our Muslim brothers and holy warriors in all corners of the world". It described victims of the attack as "henchmen of America" and "thieves and robbers of things of value to the Muslims of this country" -- a possible reference to three foreign businessmen and a diplomat who were killed. Police have said the blasts bear the hallmarks of Malaysian Islamist Noordin Mohammed Top, who heads a violent splinter faction of the radical Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network. Noordin is suspected of masterminding suicide bombings in Indonesia in 2003, 2004 and 2005 which killed a total of 42 people and injured scores more. Terrorism analyst Sidney Jones, of the International Crisis Group, noted that blogs were "often used by some of the jihadi groups". "I just don't know. It's interesting this time round, if it is him, he's only claiming to be Al-Qaeda for Indonesia and not the Malay Archipelago," she said. Noordin has previously said he leads a group called Al-Qaeda for the Malay Archipelago.