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Alqaeda claims marriot blast Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/08/11/alqaeda.blast/ http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/08/11/alqaeda.blast/ Al Qaeda claims Marriott blast From CNN Jakarta Bureau Chief Maria Ressa JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) --The al Qaeda terrorist network has claimed responsibility for last week's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and is promising more attacks, terror experts have confirmed for CNN. The claim was released to al Qaeda sympathizer and Arab media sites over the weekend in an unsigned statement. "This operation is part of a series of operations that Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri has promised to carry out," the statement said, referring to last Tuesday's blast at the Marriott, which left at least 11 people dead and over 100 injured. The statement called the attack "a fatal slap on the face of America and its allies in Muslim Jakarta, where faith has been denigrated by the dirty American presence and the discriminatory Australian presence." Al-Zawahiri is Osama bin Laden's closest adviser, as well as his doctor. He has made frequent appearances at bin Laden's side, usually in a trio completed by the late military committee commander Mohammed Atef, who was killed in November 2001 during an air strike in Afghanistan. In the statement, al Qaeda made a familiar list of demands -- including an end to the war on terror, the release of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and that the United States and its allies leave Muslim lands. Unless these demands are met, the statement claims, the attacks will continue. Jemaah Islamiyah The statement followed last week's announcement by Indonesian police that Jemaah Islamiyah or JI, al Qaeda's arm in Southeast Asia, carried out the attack on the Marriott Hotel. Police said the suspected suicide bomber was a JI member who attended an Islamic boarding school notorious for funneling recruits into the terrorist group. "The claim has the hallmarks of al Qaeda. Al Qaeda always refers to certain individuals and certain situations," said Rohan Gunaratna, an expert on the terror group. The statement went on to say the Marriott Hotel was attacked because CIA agents questioning Indonesian militants in custody were staying there. The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta refused to comment. "It shows very clearly that JI is an appendage of al Qaeda, that JI is working very closely in concert with al Qaeda, that JI is an associate group of al Qaeda, that JI is willing to conduct terrorist operations, terrorist attacks in keeping with the mandate of al Qaeda," Gunaratna said. Indonesia's defense minister has said the perpetrators behind the Marriott attack had received training in Pakistan and Afghanistan from al Qaeda bomb-making experts. Minister Matori Abdul Djalil said he was convinced JI was behind the attack. "There are many more Jemaah Islamiyah members on the loose in Indonesia," he said last week. "Each one of them has special abilities received from training in Afghanistan and Pakistan." The U.S. State Department warned last Friday that the terrorists behind the bombing may be planning further attacks against American targets in Indonesia.

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