An Egyptian newspaper says a communique attributed to Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the power failure in the United States and Canada on Friday and Saturday.
The operation "was carried out on the orders of Osama bin Laden to hit the pillars of the US economy" and as "realization of bin Laden's promise to offer the Iraqi people a present", the statement, which the Al-Hayat newspaper obtained from the Web site of the International Islamic Media Centre, said.
"Let the criminal Bush and his gang know that the punishment is the result of the action, the soldiers of God cut the power on these cities, they darkened the lives of the Americans as these criminals blackened the lives of the Muslim people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. The Americans lived a black day they will never forget. They lived a day of terror and fear... a state of chaos and confusion where looting and pillaging rampaged the cities, just like the capital of the caliphate Baghdad and Afghanistan and Palestine were. Let the American people take a sip from the same glass," Al Hayat quotes the statement as saying.
"One of the benefits of this strike is that the US will not live in peace until our conditions are met, such as releasing all the detainees, including Sheikh Omar Abdulrahman, and getting out of the land of the Muslims, including Jerusalem and Kashmir," the statement continued.
While not specifying how the sabotage was carried out, the paper quotes the statement as contending that the blackout cost the US treasury no less than $10 billion, and to "break the hearts of US officials, just know that the cost paid by the mujahideen to sabotage the power plants was a mere $7,000. Die of sorrow!"
