A purported al Qaeda statement posted on the Internet today has said that the group had carried out last week's twin attacks on an Israeli hotel and airliner in Kenya.
"The fighters of al-Qaeda return to the same place where the Crusader-Jewish coalition was hit four years ago," said the statement, referring to the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
The authenticity of the statement, signed by the "Political Office of Qaeda al-Jihad" and posted on an Islamist Web site could not be immediately be confirmed.
At least one Gulf media organisation also received the statement.
A suicide bombing last Thursday killed 16 people at an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombassa, Kenya, but a missile attack failed against the plane.
The previously unheard of "Army of Palestine" had also claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks in a faxed statement via a Lebanese media organisation.
There was been no confirmation.