DUBAI, July 19: The Al Qaeda network has warned European nations to pull their troops out of Iraq within a month or face more attacks like the London bombings, according to an Internet statement.

“This message is the final warning to European states. We want to give you a one-month deadline to bring your soldiers out from the land of Mesopotamia (Iraq),” said the statement signed by Al Qaeda group, the Abu Hafs al Masri Brigades, and dated July 16.

After Aug 15, ‘there will be no more messages, just actions that will be engraved on the heart of Europe.

“It will be a bloody war in the service of God,” said the statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified.

“It’s a message we are addressing to the crusaders who are still present in Iraq — Denmark, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy and those other countries whose troops continue to criss-cross Iraqi territory.

“These are our last words. The mujahideen, who are on the lookout, will have other words to say in your capitals.”

A statement issued in the name of the ‘Europe Division’ of the same Al Qaeda group claimed responsibility for the July 7 bombings on London’s public transport system.

The same group also claimed the 2004 train bombings in Madrid and the 2003 attacks in Istanbul.

“After the laudable strikes that have shaken London and the cities of other Crusaders still present in Iraq, we have renewed the ultimatum that we had given,” the statement said.

“We give you all one month to reflect carefully on your policy towards Islam and Muslims.

“We’re giving you this deadline so that you stop running behind the United States and the Zionists, without paying attention to the blood that has been shed and continues to be shed in the land of Islam — in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.”

The Abu Hafs al Masri Brigades take their name from an Al Qaeda commander killed during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in Oct 2001.

The group previously gave European countries an ultimatum to pull out of Iraq in April last year, a month after the Madrid attacks which killed 191 people and helped secure the election of a Socialist government committed to withdrawing Spanish troops.

Following the expiry of a three-month deadline, the group issued a further statement in August threatening to strike those European countries that continued to “attack Muslims and interfere in their domestic affairs.” —AFP