DUBAI, Oct 28 (AFP) - An Al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq claimed responsibility on Thursday for a car bombing on a road used by US military convoys which wounded three Iraqis, in a statement posted on its website.
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna "detonated a booby-trapped car in Al-Khaless east of Baghdad yesterday," said the statement, whose authenticity could not be confirmed.
The attack targeted "a convoy of GMC vehicles belonging to US intelligence. Two were totally destroyed, and more than seven crusaders among its passengers were killed. Another car was hit but the fate of its passengers in unknown," the statement claimed.
Iraqi officials said three Iraqis were wounded by a car bomb Wednesday along a road northeast of Baghdad that is often used by US military convoys, but there were no reports of American casualties,
"A car bomb exploded on the main road linking Baghdad to Kirkuk, near to the town of Al-Khaless" just outside of Baquba, said General Walid Khaled Abdelsalam, of the provincial Diyala police force.
He was unable to say who had been the target of the attack, simply noting that the road was frequently used by US and Iraqi security forces -- favorite targets in a bloody insurgency that is plaguing the country.
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna has claimed it had killed several foreign hostages and Iraqis accused of "collaborating" with US forces. On Thursday, it announced the killing of 11 Iraqi national guardsmen it had abducted south of Baghdad.
10/28/2004 14:41 GMT - AFP