Al Nusrah Front claims another suicide bombing in Syria

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant has claimed yet another suicide attack in Syria. The group released a statement on May 4 claiming credit for the April 20 suicide attack on Syrian forces at a restaurant in Hama. The Al Nusrah Front, which has been described as an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria, said the attack was designed to avenge a “brutal massacre” in the town of Al Latamnah near Hama. Below is an excerpt from the statement, which was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group:

The soldiers of the al-Nusra Front, may Allah grant it glory, knew about that, and the horses of jihad were issued the call…

The military regiment that carried out the massacre stayed between the village of M’ardas and the city of Tibat al-Imam, both of which are close to the city of Hama. They were in a two-floor restaurant called Qatrul Nada, and the number of elements there were about 350 criminals, while the rest of the forces were distributed around the restaurant. On Friday night, 20/4/2012, with grace from Allah the Almighty, an explosives-laden vehicle was prepared and it was driven by the heroic martyrdom-seeker Abu Bakr al-Hamawi, may Allah accept him – whose last words were: “The tyrant Bashar and his henchmen should know that this act will not pass without retaliation from the respectable ones…,”

The Al Nusrah Front has now claimed credit for three suicide attacks in Syria, including the April 27 suicide bombing in Damascus that killed 11 people and wounded 28 more, as well as the April 24 bombing outside the Iranian Cultural Consulate. For more information on the terror group, see LWJ report, Al Nusrah Front claims credit for suicide bombing in Damascus.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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6 Comments

  • sundoesntrise says:

    I never heard of this attack, you’d think in this time and age there would be some kind of media report detailing this attack on April 20th, 2012.

  • Sam Bronstein says:

    What are the chances that this group and the guys in the sinai peninsula could swear allegiance to Zawahiri and fight under the banner of al Qaeda? Would it be called al Qaeda in The Levant? I am even not sure if the Sinai Peninsula is in The Levant.

  • sundoesntrise says:

    No, they are two geographically different areas, it wouldn’t work out.
    But I am still curious as to how we live in the so called “age of information” and yet there is NO other information about this supposed attack on April 20th except for a claim by the armed group. Either Syria has turned into an information blackhole, or this incident never happened.
    Also, I can safely assume at this point that the FSA as well as the regular Syrian population are upset at reports like this, because it violates the ceasefire agreement and it gives Assad a reason to say “Hey, there really ARE terrorists attacking us!” — And then he can start the shelling again and continue his crackdown on dissent.

  • sundoesntrise says:

    Actually, I looked it up some more, and apparently the definitions vary. There are different definitions of what is considered the Levant, I guess it’s like there are different definitions of what is considered Khorasan.

  • rollingball says:

    So…we are supporting these ‘Protesters’ because..
    They are the Enemy of our Enemies Enemy to the Enemy of the Enemy of the Enemies Eemy.
    Huh…magine that..”aother suicide attack” , “Al Nusrah Front has now claimed credit for three suicide attacks in Syria”
    There’s ANOTHER Winning Combination..”Like the Libya Model”
    As is often said now…
    Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result…
    is the height of Insanity and Madness.

  • Don E says:

    I think the name Al Nusrah is associated with the word Al ‘nsaar أًلأَنْصار that is the name of the group of people in Medina that gave refuge to Muhammad after the Hegira. Today, the word probably means “Defender of the Faith,” or “Protector.”
    Reference: Hans Wehr, Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th ed., page 1138

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis