The Manchester United football team was the target of a bomb attack on the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jakarta two weeks ago, according to a message posted on the internet purporting to be from Indonesia's most wanted terrorist suspect Noordin Mohammed Top.
The message, in which Malaysian born Noordin claims responsibility for the twin hotel bombings that killed seven people, confirms that the Ritz was targeted by a suicide bomber because it was about to host "the Crusaders" Manchester United who were due to play an exhibition match in Jakarta.
It says the attack was a warning to Indonesians "against the arrival of the soccer club Manchester United" at the hotel.
"These players are Christians, so Muslims should not honour and respect these enemies of Allah," it said.
Jemaah Islamiyah behind Jakarta suicide bombs;
The posting, written in Indonesian and Arabic, claims the attacks on the Ritz and the Marriott hotels were specifically aimed at American interests and US allies.
Dedicated to two dead heroes of Noordin's group, an offshoot of the radical Islamist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah, it says the attacks targeted "the head figures of business and intelligence within the US economy."
It also refers to the "American chamber of commerce" as a target, apparently confirming that a breakfast meeting of Western businessmen at the Marriott, hosted by US lobbyist James Castle, was specifically targeted. The breakfast meeting suffered heavy fatalities on July 17, with three Australians and a New Zealander killed in the explosions.
"They have major interests in sucking Indonesia's treasure and financing the US army to fight against Muslims and Islam," the message said.
Manchester United abandoned its planned game against an Indonesian all-star side after the bombings.The posting described the team as "salibis", or Christian crusaders, who were unworthy of the support of Muslims.
The posting has not been independently verified but is described as "plausible" by Sidney Jones, the Jakarta based analyst for the International Crisis Group. Indonesian police are examining the posting, which carried Noordin's name and identified his group as "Al Qae'da in Indonesia."
The group claims to have carried out extensive research before carrying out the bombings, and promises to release video footage of the suicide bombers' statements.
Ms Jones said the posting was made plausibe by the mention of Noordin's accomplice Azahari bin Husin, an explosives expert killed by Indonesian police in 2005 and Jabir, a student of Azahari's who is believed to have helped recurit the 2005 Bali bombers.
"The argument that he uses the citations from the Koran, the way that he says that these martyrdom operations were conducted in the name of Azahari, the former partner of his who was killed in 2005, and Jabir, another very close associate of his who was also killed, in 2006; that makes sense as a statement of Noordin's interests and views," she said.
Earlier this week, an Indonesian woman learned that her husband Abdul Halim, who she had beleived was an ordinary husband - albeit one who travelled a lot for his work - was the terrorist Noordin, who is also wanted in connection with an earlier bombing of the Marriott in 2003, and sucide attacks in Jakarta and Bali in 2004 and 2005.
Arina Rahma had learnt from media reports that her husband, a public affairs worker who used to help her cook and bathe her children, was the most wanted Islamist terrorist in South East Asia
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6732844.ece