DUBAI, Nov 21: The Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the twin bombings in Istanbul and threatened fresh deadly attacks against the United States and Japan, in a message received on Friday by a Saudi newspaper, Al Majallah.

“Al Qaeda and its associates throughout the world are the ones that carried out the two swift attacks” in Istanbul, said the message to the paper.

It also threatened “the United States and Japan ... with new operations”.

“The moment the first Japanese soldier sets foot in Iraq, Al Qaeda will hit at the very core of Tokyo,” said the message, sent by Abu Mohammed al Ablaj, who claims to be a spokesman for the group.

“And it is at that time the Japanese will learn our true capabilities,” added the message, stressing that Japan is “very capable of being destroyed, and the Japanese know this reality.”

The message came as Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Thursday he was abandoning his plan to send troops to Iraq by the end of this year. —AFP