Washington, Nov 6: A Yemen-based al Qa’eda group claimed responsibility yesterday for the mail bomb plot uncovered by officials last week.

A week after authorities intercepted packages in Dubai and Britain that were bound for the US, al Qa’eda in the Arabian Peninsula issued a message late yesterday saying it will continue to strike American interests.

Both mail bombs were wired to detonators that used mobile phone technology.

US officials have said they believed it was the Yemen group. The claim was reported by the private SITE Intelligence Group.

The group also claimed responsibility for the downing of a United Parcel Service cargo plane in Dubai in September. A US official has said that authorities have found no evidence that the crash of the Boeing 747-400 was caused by a bomb. Investigators still do not know what caused the fire that erupted on the plane’s main cargo deck.

The National reported on Monday that General Civil Aviation Authority said there was no bomb on board the UPS plane that crashed and killed the two pilots on board.

According to the US Federal Aviation Administration, the plane carried industrial lithium batteries, which are highly flammable.