The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq killed the two US soldiers abducted last week, an umbrella group for Iraqi insurgents said in a web statement posted today.

Iraqi militants shot dead an American soldier they have held hostage for nearly three months, saying he was killed because the US government did not change its policy in Iraq, Al-Jazeera television said today.

Iraqi fighters tonight paraded a 20-year-old captured American soldier on video.

Kidnappers are holding an American soldier hostage in Iraq, it was reported tonight.

FOUR Italians working as private security guards for a US company in Iraq and nine Americans were among 40 hostages being held in Iraq yesterday.