DUBAI - A previously unheard of group claimed responsibility on Sunday for a bomb attack against a Shiite funeral tent in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul which killed 51 people and wounded 77, in a statement posted on an Islamist website.
The "Jund al-Sahaba fi al-Iraq", or "Soldiers of the (Prophet Mohammad's) Companions in Iraq", said it carried out "the Mosul conquest" in order to punish the "rafidha" -- a derogatory term for Shiite Muslims used by Sunni extremists.
"May they be cursed for pursuing plans aimed at eliminating the Sunnis in Iraq," the group said in the statement, whose authenticity could not be confirmed.
The statement, signed by the group's "emir" Sheikh Abul Abbas al-Omari, charged that the Iraqi national guard and police were "made up of Shiites who hate Sunnis."
It accused the Shiites of having "violated the honor of Muslim women, targeted (Sunni) dignitaries and imams, insulted (the prophet's companions) Abu Bakr (al-Siddik) and Omar (bin al-Khattab), and cursed Aisha (a wife of the prophet)."
The group threatened to "step up attacks against the rafidha if they do not stop their aggression" against Sunnis.
A suicide attacker struck as people flocked into a mourners' tent in Mosul Thursday.
The bombing, which killed 51 people and wounded 77, has been roundly condemned by religious leaders across Iraq's Shiite-Sunni divide.
03/13/2005 17:05 GMT