Fatah al-Islam denies involvement in Damascus blast

Nov 10, 2008, 13:36 GMT

Beirut - Fatah al-Islam, an al-Qaeda-linked militant movement, on Monday denied any links with the September 27 bomb attack in the Syrian capital that killed 17 people.

'We deny any involvement in the Damascus blast ... and the allegations which were shown on (Syrian) television,' Fatah al-Islam said in a statement faxed to the media in Beirut.

The statement followed allegations by alleged Fatah al-Islam members in a 40-minute television report aired on state-run television in Syria last week.

The report centred around confession-style interviews with people implicated in and witnesses to the bombing. Among them was a woman who identified herself as the daughter of Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi.

They alleged that the bomb attack had been planned in Lebanon and carried out by Saudi citizen Abi A'isha, who was killed in the bombing.

The broadcast showed Fatah al-Islam members saying the group was funded by merchants in north Lebanon, the country's Future Current Party - lead by Saad Harari, the son of Lebanon's slain former prime minister Rafik Hariri - and wealth Saudi and other individuals from the Gulf.

Hariri has described the accusations made by alleged Fatah al- Islam members as 'lies.' His media office issued a press release Monday saying the contents of the report were 'untrue' and 'nothing new' and simply part of the Syria's 'well known political and media campaigns.'

The statement called on the Arab League to form a committee and investigate crimes committed by Fatah al-Islam to torpedo attempts at 'portraying Lebanon, instead of Syria, as a source of terrorism.'

'Lebanon has always and will always denounces all acts of terrorism, mainly the activities of Fatah al-Islam,' Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora said Saturday.

Fatah al-Islam emerged in November 2006 when it split from Fatah al-Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon, which itself was a splinter of then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement.

Some officials in Lebanon dispute that it was a real split and allege that Fatah al-Islam is a part of Syrian intelligence security forces. Syria denies any link to Fatah al-Islam.