(CNN) -- A militant Islamist group has claimed responsibility for the explosion aboard an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman last month.
In a statement posted on various websites that regularly carry messages from al Qaeda leaders, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades included a picture of a man they claimed carried out a suicide attack on the tanker on July 28.
The group said the attack was intended to "strike an economic blow to the infidels".
CNN was not immediately able to authenticate the claim.
The group, said to be inspired by al Qaeda, is believed to be behind several attacks in the Middle East, including the October 2004 attack on a hotel and nearby camp sites in Egypt that killed more than three dozen people.
The statement from the Abdullah Azzam Brigades said the attack on the tanker was the "conquest of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman" -- a reference to the imprisoned blind cleric who inspired the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York. CNN
