Al Qaeda Claims Attack On Tunisia Synagogue

Suspected terror mastermind Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network claimed responsibility for the blast near a synagogue which killed 15 including ten German tourists last week in Tunisia, the Al-Qods Al-Arabi newspaper said.

The London-based Arab daily, which did not say how it obtained the claim, said "the Al-Qaeda netowrk of Sheikh Osama bin Laden claims the operation against the Djerba synagogue."

"This suicide operation is a response to the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," said a document, which the newspaper claimed was a genuine Al-Qaeda statement.

The statement said Tunisian Nizar bin Mohammed Nawar, aka Saif al-Din al-Tunsi carried out the operation, masterminded by the "the command of the Islamic army for the liberation of holy places."

"This suicide operation is also a reprisal for [Arab] governments' refusal to allow their peoples to launch jihad against the Jews," said the text carried by the newspaper.

The daily also published the testament of the alleged kamizake, calling on members of his family do die as "martyrs".

Authorities in Tunisia maintain that the blast was an accident caused when a truck carrying natural gas went out of control and crashed into the wall surrounding the Griba synagogue on the island of Djerba, bursting into flames as a group of German tourists visited the site.