The Yemen-based arm of the al Qaeda terrorist network claimed responsibility Friday for last week's plot to send explosive devices on cargo planes bound for the United States.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which had been suspected in the plot, posted its claim on various radical Islamist websites, saying, "We will continue to strike blows against American interests and the interest of America's allies."
The statement also claimed the group is responsible for the crash of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on September 3.
Investigators said earlier this month they had failed to turn up any evidence that terrorism was involved in that crash, which killed the two pilots aboard, according to a U.S. government official.
About 45 minutes after UPS Flight 6 departed Dubai International Airport for Cologne, Germany, the crew declared an emergency due to smoke in the cockpit. They asked to return to Dubai, but shortly before the plane could get to the airport it crashed.
Officials in the United Arab Emirates have said -- and a U.S. official confirmed -- that the plane's cockpit voice recorder has been examined and nothing on it indicates an explosion. Explosions have distinctive sound signatures, and that would have been recorded on the device, the official said.
The UAE said it has "eliminated the possibility of an onboard explosion, following a detailed onsite investigation of the wreckage."
A U.S. counterterrorism official said Friday that while "there are very strong indications that AQAP was responsible for plotting last week's disrupted cargo plane plot ... we can't confirm at this point their claims about the early September incident."
White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said Sunday that the United States is "looking very carefully" at the September crash to see if it could be related to the recent terror threat involving cargo aircraft.
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According to SITE Intel Group...
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed the recently discovered plot involving explosive parcels, and also claimed responsibility for the downing of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai in September 2010. In a communiqué issued on jihadist forums on November 5, 2010, AQAP said that it kept quiet its activity behind the September incident, and questioned why the media did not attribute responsibility to them earlier. They rhetorically answered that it is perhaps because the Obama Administration wanted to hide the incident so as to conceal security failure before the US midterm elections. AQAP declared to Obama: “We struck three blows to your aircraft within one year.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evan Kohlmann of Flashpoint Partners confirms the release by AQAP thru a series of tweets on his twitter...
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has issued an official communique claiming credit for the latest UPS cargo bomb plot from Yemen.
In its statement, AQAP also claimed to have placed explosives in the cargo hold of a UPS 747 aircraft that crashed leaving Dubai on Sept. 3.
AQAP: "We say to Obama: we planned three attacks targeting your planes within the past year, and we shall continue, Allah-willing."
AQAP: "We intend on publicizing this idea.. and broadening its application to include civilian airplanes in the West as well as cargo ones."
AQAP has accused the Obama admin of "covering up" AQ's role in downing a UPS flight on Sept. 3 "because of the American midterm elections."
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The full AQAP statement can be seen in Arabic over at the jihadology.net..
http://jihadology.net/2010/11/05/new-statement-from-al-qa%E2%80%99idah-in-the-arabian-peninsula-package-operations-of-attrition/
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