A group citing ties to al-Qaida says it carried out the Sharm al-Shaikh bombings that have so far killed at least The group is one of two that claimed responsibility for the 7 October bombings in the Sinai Peninsula at Taba and Ras Shitan that killed 34 people. "Your brothers, the holy warriors of the martyr Abd Allah Azzam Brigades succeeded in launching a smashing attack on the Crusaders, Zionists and the renegade Egyptian regime in Sharm al-Shaikh," the statement read. "We reaffirm that this operation was in response to the crimes committed by the forces of international evil, which are spilling the blood of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya. We declare it loud and clear that we will not be frightened by the whips of the Egyptian torturers and we will not tolerate violation of our brothers' land of Sinai," the statement added in an apparent reference to tourists who travel from neighbouring Israel to Sinai Peninsula for holidays.
The Abd Allah Azzam Brigades are apparently named after Abd Allah Azzam, a Palestinian who led Islamic fighters in Afghanistan and was killed in 1989 by a roadside bomb, and was regarded as the one-time spiritual mentor of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
| Yeah. Zawahiri had him bumped off, I believe. But it was just business. |
Leaders from Chad, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and Sudan are to meet for a summit on 20 April in Egypt to discuss the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur, the Egyptian foreign minister said on Sunday. Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gheit said that the summit, to take place in the Red Sea resort of 
A Palestinian man has died after being shot by Israeli troops, the first casualty following a truce announced in 
Without endorsing the ceasefire declared at the landmark Middle East summit, Palestinian resistance groups have said they will hold off on attacking Israel for now. Two major groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, reacted on Wednesday to pledges by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to end violence at the 
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas' ruling Fatah movement has reissued a call for a mutual ceasefire with Israel. "We are ready for a total ceasefire in the occupied territories and in Israel, in line with the roadmap [peace plan]," the group's 129-member revolutionary council said in a statement on Sunday. But Fatah also stressed "the Palestinians' right to self defence against attacks by the Israeli army", and their "right to resist the occupation, settlement and the construction" by Israel of a West Bank separation barrier.