Dubai, June 5 : A statement flashed on Islamic websites, purportedly signed by an Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, has claimed that the terror group was behind the suicide attack on Denmark's embassy in Pakistan which claimed eight lives.

The statement said that the suicide attack was carried out in revenge for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.

The cartoon, reprinted by Danish newspapers earlier this year, depicted Mohammad wearing a bomb in his turban. It was one of 12 drawings of the Prophet that sparked riots in the Muslim world in 2006 after originally being printed in a Danish newspaper in 2005.

The Qaeda leader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said Denmark was targeted as it had not apologized for the publication of the cartoons.

“The attack was a revenge against the infidel government ... of Denmark which published degrading drawings of the prophet ... and refused to apologize but continued ... and was followed by leading Crusader states, organizations and figures,” The News quoted the Qaeda statement as saying.

The attack was in line with a pledge of revenge by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the group said in the statement.

The statement, authenticity of which could not be independently verified, said that a recorded message from the al Qaeda suicide bomber who carried out the attack would be issued. (ANI)