Thu Nov 25, 2004 02:04 PM ET
DUBAI (Reuters) - The group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said on Thursday it carried out a shooting attack that killed a U.S. civilian official near Baghdad's Green Zone government compound.
A U.S. official said on Wednesday that State Department employee James Mollen was shot dead by gunfire. It said he was an adviser to the Iraqi Education Ministry.
"This morning a hero from the al Qaeda group in Baghdad managed to kill one of the American parasites who works as an adviser to the ministry of education," said the statement from the Al Qaeda Organization of Holy War in Iraq dated on Thursday.
It was not possible to verify the claim which appeared on Internet sites often used by Islamist groups in Iraq.
The U.S. official had said Mollen, a political appointee to the State Department rather than a regular diplomat, was in a vehicle when he came under attack.
The Green Zone was the headquarters of the U.S.-led occupation that initially ruled Iraq after last year's U.S.-led invasion. It currently houses many government offices as well as the U.S. and British embassies and U.S. military units.
Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for hostage beheadings and some of Iraq's bloodiest suicide attacks. The Jordanian militant is Washington's most wanted man in Iraq, with a $25 million bounty on his head.
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