Al-Qaida: video bombings of Baghdad hotels posted in Internet

A videotape posted on the Internet purportedly by al-Qaida in Iraq showed how the terror group carried out the Oct. 24 suicide attacks on two Baghdad hotels that killed 17 Iraqi pedestrians and security guards.

The footage showed the attackers rehearsing how to carry out the attack, with the commander giving directions to the would-be suicide bombers as they ride in a car together. There is also footage of the bombing itself, as filmed by al-Qaida. The 13-minute video is called "Badr Raid," after a famous victory by Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

As a religious song plays in the back ground, the video shows a hand indicating the routes to targets Palestine and Sheraton hotels. The voice of the attack's commander, identified only as a "military official," gives directions to the three bombers: "Abu Naiem leads with the Honda and takes the extreme right toward the square, the Firdous square. Here is the Palestine Hotel, which will be the target of Abu Juhayman driving a Jeep Cherokee."

"Abu Naiem will strike to the right, to hit the first check point then the second barrier," the commander says, referring to the bomber by a nom de guerre.

In another part of the video, the viewer sees "Abu Naiem" walking toward the Honda van that he drove in the attack and "Abu Dahan" driving the cement mixer truck that was the vehicle that exploded closest to the Palestine Hotel.

On the video, the commander said the cement truck "carries the biggest amount of explosives."

In a statement at the end of the video tape, an unidentified speaker says: "With God's help, the holy warriors of al-Qaida in Iraq managed to strike the Palestine Hotel, which was occupied by foreign journalists and security companies that protect institutions and personalities."

The final scene on the video tape showed the attack under way with a subtitle in Arabic saying "the holy warriors are watching the execution of the raid." The voices of men shouting "Allah u-Akbar," or God is Great, is heard as a big cloud of smoke rises from the scene, AP reports. P.T.

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