Following the deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday, the head of an extremist Jordanian Muslim Salafi group said that he is “happy to see the horror in America,” reports The Washington Post.
“American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood,” said Mohammad al-Chalabi. “Let the Americans feel the pain we endured by their armies occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and killing our people there.”
Al-Chalabi was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for the connection of an al-Qaida-linked plot to attack the U.S. His group is now outlawed in Jordan.
Two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon on Monday near the finish line, killing three people and injuring over 100 more. The blast shattered windows, tore limbs off of spectators and knocked several people, including at least one runner, to the ground. The cause or motive of the bombing is yet to be known, but it is believed that it may be terroristic.
A Mideast counterterrorism official based in Jordan said that the explosions “carry the hallmark of an organized terrorist group, like al-Qaida.”
“From the little information available, one can say it was a well-coordinated, well-targeted and near-simultaneous attack,” the official said. “Luckily, the amount of explosives used is small, judging from the casualty figure and explosion area.”
However, there is no actual evidence linking the bombing to al-Qaida.