Iraqi Qaeda-led group hails Amman shooting-Web

DUBAI, Sep 5 (Reuters) An Iraqi militant group led by al Qaeda today hailed as ''heroic'' a gunman's attack on a group of tourists in Amman which killed a British man and wounded 6 other people.

The Muahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group led by Iraq's branch of al Qaeda, said in a statement posted on the Internet that Muslim youth should follow the example of the attacker.

''A lion of Islam attacked an ungodly crowd of Jews and Christians who wander as they please in the land of Islam under the protection of tyrants and their aides and killed and wounded a number of them,'' it said.

''May God accept your (the gunman's) effort. We call on the (Islamic) nation's youth to follow the example of this hero, this lion. There shall be no security for the enemies of God in the land of Islam,'' said the group.

The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.

Jordanian officials said they were investigating if the gunman who was arrested shortly after the incident yesterday acted on his own or belonged to a radical Islamist group.

The statement compared the gunman, identifed by Jordan's Interior Minister as Nabil Ahmad, to Khaled Islambouli, who assasinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

''Praise God for endowing this nation with men who reject injustice and humiliation ... like Khaled Islambouli...'' The wounded were two Britons, a Dutch national, a New Zealander, an Australian and their Jordanian tour guide.

The shooting was the first bloody incident to hit the pro-Western kingdom since triple suicide bombings against luxury hotels claimed by al Qaeda last November which killed scores.

Anti-Western sentiment has hardened in Jordan since Israel's military offensives against Gaza and Lebanon.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Reuters SHB GC2110