Al Qaeda's number two man has said for the first time the group carried out the July 7 suicide bombings in London in a videotape aired on Arabic channel al- Jazeera, the BBC reported on Monday evening.

In the videotaped message, Ayman al-Zawahri said al Qaeda had the "honor" of carrying out the attacks, which killed 52 people.

Zawahri had previously praised the bombings, and blamed them on Britain's foreign policy.

On the new tape, he also criticized Afghanistan's parliamentary elections, the BBC said.

Source: Xinhua