Zarqawi group claims attack on Australian soldiers in Baghdad

DUBAI, Oct 25 (AFP) - The group loyal to Al-Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi claimed to have bombed an Australian convoy in Baghdad on Monday, in a statement posted on an Islamist website.
The claim could not be independently verified.
"One of our lions from the martyrs brigades," of the Al-Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers (Iraq) "this morning attacked an Australian convoy that wanted to enter the Green Zone in the Karrada district," it said.
The car bomb exploded alongside the patrol near Australia's embassy in Baghdad, leaving three Iraqis dead and 16 people wounded, including three Australian soldiers.
In a separate statement posted on the same Internet site, Zarqawi's group claimed to have attacked an American military convoy in the town of Khaldiya.
The group, which changed its name from Al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), shortly after recently pledging allegiance to Al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for a string of bombings, kidnappings and killings in Iraq.
Both the Jordanian-born Zarqawi and Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden have a 25-million-dollar US bounty on their heads.

10/25/2004 14:52 GMT - AFP