BEIRUT, Lebanon - A previously unknown group claimed responsibility on Monday for the assassination of Lebanese lawmaker Gebran Tueni, a fierce critic of Syria.

In a statement faxed to Reuters bearing no insignia or letterhead, the group calling itself "Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of the Levant," said the same fate awaited other opponents of "Arabism" in Lebanon.

There was no way to verify the authenticity of the statement, whose wording appeared designed to cast suspicion on Damascus, which is ruled by the Arab nationalist Baath Party.

Syria poured troops into Lebanon early in the 1975-1990 civil war but ended its 29-year military presence in its smaller neighbor in April amid a global and local outcry over the February 14. killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

"We have succeeded today again in liquidating another of the mouthpieces that have...spread their poison and lies and not stopped despite the warnings we have sent him time and again," the statement said.

"We have broken the pen of Gebran Tueni and shut his mouth forever and transformed an-Nahar into a very dark night," it said, referring to the newspaper Tueni published.

An-Nahar means "The Day."

Some Lebanese politicians have blamed Syria for Tueni's death as well as a series of explosions that have rocked the country since Hariri's death. Damascus has denied any role in Monday's bombing, saying Tueni's killing was timed to smear it.  (Reuters)