A militant Iraqi group denied it had killed US Marine hostage Wassef Hassoun, contradicting earlier reports that he had been beheaded.

AN Islamic militant group denied yesterday it had beheaded a US marine missing in Iraq, leaving the fate of the Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun unclear.

The fate of kidnapped US Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun was unclear tonight after extremist group, the Ansar al-Sunna Army, denied it had issued a statement claiming to have beheaded the corporal.

Rescue teams were searching the sea off the West African nation of Benin today in a desperate hunt for survivors of a plane crash that killed at least 96 people, authorities said.