July 15, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

FALLUJAH (Iraq), July 14: A previously unknown group, calling itself the Iraqi Jihad Movement, said it would wage attacks against US forces in Iraq, in a statement received here by AFP.

It also paid tribute to Syrians who came to fight the US forces in the three-week war that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in April.

It was the second statement from an unknown Islamist group vowing to attack US soldiers in two days.

Doubts over authenticity: Arab commentators and experts in Cairo, raised a number of questions on Monday regarding a tape broadcast by an Arab television channel allegedly made by a group in Iraq affiliated with the Al Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden.

A voice on the tape, which was aired by the al-Arabiya satellite channel, claimed to be representing a group that was responsible for coordinating armed resistance against United States forces in Iraq.

The voice on the tape that appeared to be heavily edited or poorly made, identified the group as The Armed Islamic Al Qaeda Movement Fallujah branch, but experts said they doubt a connection between the group and Al Qaeda.

Dia Rashwan, an expert with the Cairo-based al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies who specialises in Islamic groups, told al-Arabiya that he doubted the group’s claim that it was affiliated with al-Qaeda.

The voice on the tape for instance, claims it was made on July 10, 2003. He uses the Gregorian calender followed by the year in the Islamic calender or Hijri, according to Rashwan. He added that Al Qaeda tapes normally use the Islamic calender, complete with month and day. The other problem, said Rashwan, was “the mention of former Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar”.

“Al Qaeda tapes never refer to Mullah Omar by name,” Rashwan noted.—dpa