Al Qaeda Group Claims Bombing

A militant group claimed responsibility in the name of Al Qaeda on Saturday for a failed assassination attempt against Pakistan’s prime minister-designate and threatened more attacks unless Pakistan stops handing over captured militants to the United States.

The suicide bombing targeting Shaukat Aziz after a campaign rally killed at least nine people and wounded three dozen others. It came hours after Pakistan announced the capture of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, an Al Qaeda suspect on the FBI’s list of most-wanted terrorists.

In a statement on an Islamic website, a group calling itself the Islambouli Brigades of Al Qaeda said it was behind Friday’s blast.

“One of our blessed battalions tried to hunt a head of one of America’s infidels in Pakistan while he was returning from Fateh Jang, but God wanted him to survive,” the Arabic-language statement said.

The statement said the attack was a response to President Pervez Musharraf’s handing over of captured militants to the United States. “This operation yesterday will be followed by a series of painful strikes if you don’t stop what you are doing by complying to the wicked Bush’s orders,” the group said, addressing Musharraf.

The group said it would give Pakistan time to stop the transfers. It did not say how long, but said the message was “the last warning” and that “within the coming few days, our brigades will speak with the language of blood, which is the only language you understand.”

It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the claim. Lt. Khaled Islambouli was the leader of the group of soldiers who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Cairo in 1981.

The government said Ghailani’s arrest last week was “a major blow” to Al Qaeda and vowed to continue hunting terrorists.

Ghailani, who had a $25-million bounty on his head, is wanted in the United States for an alleged role in the 1998 East African embassy attacks, and Pakistan already has said it will consider extraditing Ghailani to the U.S., where he could face the death penalty.

Police have made no arrests in connection with Friday’s attack. Information Minister Sheik Rashid Ahmed said police and other officials were trying to identify the attacker, whose head was found near the blast site. He appeared to be a Pakistani man in his early 20s, a local police official said.

Aziz, the country’s finance minister, was tapped by Musharraf to take over as prime minister, but he must win a seat in Parliament before he can take the position.