FBI Rejects Terrorist Claims in BP Plant Explosion
THE FBI today rejected claims purportedly from two Islamic extremist groups of responsibility for an oil refinery explosion in Texas that left 15 people dead and over 100 injured in the plant's third fatal accident in a year.
"We've been getting calls about some emails circulating apparently from people claiming responsibility for the explosion," Al Tribble, a spokesman for the FBI office in Houston, said. "We've found no evidence to support criminal or terrorist activity," he said. The FBI was treating the blast at the BP refinery in Texas City, south of Houston, as an accident. The emails were apparently from "two specific Islamic groups", Mr Tribble said. He said he did not know the names of the groups.
Despite the FBI's Mr. Tribble not knowing the names of the two groups, I was able to source the following from an earlier report: An unknown group, calling itself Qaedat al-Jihad in the United States or al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in the United States of America, said it would issue a detailed statement and video of the attack later. The statement was posted on the Internet on Thursday. Another group, Jund Al-Sham or translated Army of the Levant, also posted an Internet statement on Thursday claiming responsibility for the blast at the BP plant in Texas City, Texas. Strange how two groups claimed responsibility for the same act.
A year ago the FBI warned Texas oil refineries of a potential terrorism threat in the wake of the deadly train blasts in Madrid, which came two and a half years after the September 11 attacks on the United States. Five days later a series of explosions hit the BP plant at Texas City, but they were traced to a furnace fire.
Earlier Reuters News Release with Names
Agence France Presse - FBI Rejects Terrorist Claims
"We've been getting calls about some emails circulating apparently from people claiming responsibility for the explosion," Al Tribble, a spokesman for the FBI office in Houston, said. "We've found no evidence to support criminal or terrorist activity," he said. The FBI was treating the blast at the BP refinery in Texas City, south of Houston, as an accident. The emails were apparently from "two specific Islamic groups", Mr Tribble said. He said he did not know the names of the groups.
Despite the FBI's Mr. Tribble not knowing the names of the two groups, I was able to source the following from an earlier report: An unknown group, calling itself Qaedat al-Jihad in the United States or al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in the United States of America, said it would issue a detailed statement and video of the attack later. The statement was posted on the Internet on Thursday. Another group, Jund Al-Sham or translated Army of the Levant, also posted an Internet statement on Thursday claiming responsibility for the blast at the BP plant in Texas City, Texas. Strange how two groups claimed responsibility for the same act.
A year ago the FBI warned Texas oil refineries of a potential terrorism threat in the wake of the deadly train blasts in Madrid, which came two and a half years after the September 11 attacks on the United States. Five days later a series of explosions hit the BP plant at Texas City, but they were traced to a furnace fire.
Earlier Reuters News Release with Names
Agence France Presse - FBI Rejects Terrorist Claims
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