A new unknown Muslim group Fida’iyin e Islam, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad last week.
That claimed 60 lives and more than 266 seriously injured.
In an audio recording and SMS received through a telephone call to all prominent media outlets, claimed the responsibility of the blast.
The group spokesman, who named himself Ahmad Shah Abdali, put several conditions for stopping the attacks on US interests in Pakistan.
Conditions include ending the US-Pakistani cooperation, halting operations in the tribal areas, and releasing all the detained mujahidin in US prisons.
It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the audio recording and the identity of the group.
All prominent Islamabad based journalists received SMS message to their cellular phones that narrates the claims.
According to SMS there were 250 US Marines and a group of NATO and US officials inside the hotel when the blast took place on Saturday evening.
Group spokesman apologized for the attack, but said that it had to be done. The spokesman said that the group is ready to die if lists of around 12 conditions are not met.
The correspondents reiterate that this is the first time that anybody hears about this group, noting that the recording was in English, and the speaker’s accent indicates that he is probably a south Asian dialect.
We three journalist friends, Mohsin Raza, director news popular ARY one world private TV channel, Shakil Turabi, editor in chief South Asian News agency and myself were invited at an Iftar dinner.
At 7.15 PST Mohsin received a SMS from his junior in which an unknown group claimed the responsibility of deadly Islamabad Marriott blast.
“No need to be panicky for this phony-looking SMS”, Cautious Mohsin advised his junior. The text message was littered with spell mistakes.
TEXT of the SMS
“In the name of Allah, (GOD) the merciful and kind. We are Fidayan e Islam. We claim responsibility of Marriot Islamabad blast. By this action we struck 250 US Marines, US officials, and top ranking NATO official delegation.
This is a humble gift for the Muslims of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the whole world.
We are happy that an important fort of USA is blown. We regret to the Muslims who don’t understand how dangerous Marriott like strategic places for them.
We are sorry for this collateral damage but for the Muslim nations we had.”
Spokesman Fidayan e Islam
Ahmad Shah Abdali
Game of breaking news and exclusive is become a dangerous proposition
for electronic Pakistani media.
So Mohsin Raza advised his junior colleague don’t tempt for a global scope because local danger are graver than a news item.
No Pakistani media tried to break this scope. Dubai based Arabic TV channel Al-Arabia aired this scope at 8.00pm PST.
Swat Taliban denies Islamabad Marriott blast link
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Swat refused to claim responsibility of suicide attack at Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
First Pakistani Pashtu private news TV channel Khyber ATV telecasted an interview of TTP Swat spokesman Muslim Khan.
He refused to accept any link with Islamabad Marriott hotel suicide attack.
He advised the TV anchor to make contact with the TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar in this regard.
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