Feb 2, 2008 6:00 pm US/Eastern
Al Qaeda Takes Credit For Israeli Embassy Attack
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) ―
An al Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility for a shooting attack on the Israeli Embassy in Mauritania's capital, saying it was retaliating against Israeli policies in the Gaza Strip, an Arab television station reported Saturday.
At least one gunman opened fire on the Israeli Embassy in Mauritania early Friday, setting off a gunbattle with guards that wounded three bystanders, including three French citizens. Guards at the embassy returned fire, but no embassy staff were wounded.
The Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera said that Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa, an affiliate of Osama bin Laden's terror network, issued a statement saying it had carried out the attack as a reprisal against Israel's actions in Gaza.
It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the claim.
Israel has been restricting deliveries of gas and other supplies to Gaza in response to rocket attacks targeting Israeli towns. The Israeli clampdown has prompted protests in Mauritania, an overwhelmingly Muslim nation.
Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, is based in Algeria and has claimed responsibility for near-simultaneous bombings at U.N. offices in Algiers and a government building on Dec. 11 that killed at least 37 people. The same group also purportedly said in an audiotape that it carried out the killing of several soldiers in Mauritania in December.
Mauritania has had relatively few incidents of terrorism in recent years. But on Christmas Eve, gunmen killed four French tourists as they picnicked on the side of a road - an attack the government blamed on a terror sleeper cell affiliated with al Qaeda.
One year ago, a ranking al Qaeda leader released a videotape calling for an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Mauritania, according to a transcript provided by Ben Venzke, who heads the IntelCenter based in Alexandria, Va.
Israel has had diplomatic relations with Mauritania since 1999, but some residents resent the Israeli presence in the overwhelmingly Islamic nation. Mauritania is one of only three Arab League nations with diplomatic ties with Israel. The other two are Egypt and Jordan.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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