Al-Qaida claims role in attack

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A militant group claimed responsibility in the name of al-Qaida on Saturday for a failed assassination attempt against Pakistan's prime minister-designate, threatening more attacks unless Pakistan stops handing captured militants to the United States.

The suicide bombing targeting Shaukat Aziz after a campaign rally killed at least nine people and wounded three dozen. It came hours after Pakistan announced the capture of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, an al-Qaida suspect on the FBI's list of top wanted terrorists.

Pakistani officials said the attack had al-Qaida's fingerprints - which would make it the latest attempt blamed on Osama bin Laden's terror network to take out Pakistan's leadership. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf survived two attempts to kill him in December, one of which killed 17 people.

In a statement on an Islamic Web site, a group calling itself the "Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaida" said it was behind Friday's blast.

"One of our blessed battalions tried to hunt a head of one of America's infidels in Pakistan while he was returning from Fateh Jang, but God wanted him to survive," said the Arabic-language statement by the group.

The statement said the attack was a response to Musharraf's handing of captured militants to the Americans. "This operation yesterday will be followed by a series of painful strikes if you don't stop what you are doing by complying to the wicked (President) Bush's orders," the group said, addressing Musharraf.

The group said it would give Pakistan time to stop the handovers. It did not say how long, but said the message was "the last warning" and that "within the coming few days, our brigades will speak with the language of blood,which is the only language you understand."

It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the Internet claim. Lt. Khaled Islambouli was the leader of the group of soldiers who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a military parade in Cairo in 1981.

The government said the arrest of Ghailani today after a heavy gunbattle in the town of Gujrat was "a major blow" to al-Qaida and vowed to keep hunting terrorists.

Ghailani, who had a $25-million bounty on his head, is wanted in the United States for his alleged role in the 1998 East African embassy attacks, and Pakistan has said it would consider extraditing Ghailani to the United States, where he could face the death penalty.

Police have made no arrests in connection with Friday's attack.

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