BY IANS/AKI,
Beirut : The Al-Qaeda-aligned Abdullah Azzam Brigades have claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s deadly twin bombings of the Iranian embassy in Beirut, a cleric linked to the group said on Twitter.
“The Abdullah Azzam brigades … are behind the attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut,” Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat, the group’s religious guide, wrote on the microblogging website.
Israel earlier denied accusations by Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, that it was behind the blasts which killed at least 23 people and injured some 150 in a Shia stronghold of Beirut.
The bombings, which killed the Iranian cultural attache, were condemned by the Syrian and Lebanese governments.
The Sunni jihadist Abdullah Azzam Brigades began operating between 2004 and 2009 as an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and has affiliates in a number of countries.
The Lebanese branch is called the Ziad al-Jarrah Battalion, and is named after Ziad al-Jarrah, a Lebanese citizen who was one of the masterminds of the Sep 11, 2001, attacks on the US.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades earlier claimed responsibility for rocket attack on northern Israel from Lebanon Aug 22.