US hostage in Iraq beheaded in website video

A VIDEO posted on a website last night showed the apparent beheading of American construction contractor Eugene Armstrong, said to have been carried out personally by key Iraq terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The authenticity of the nine-minute tape could not be verified, but the voice of the militant reading a statement behind the sobbing man, blindfolded and wearing an orange jumpsuit, sounded like past recordings said to be of Zarqawi.

Five militants dressed in black stood behind the man, who was identified after an earlier video announcing their abduction as Armstrong.

Four of the militants were armed.

A Tawhid and Jihad banner hung on the wall behind them.

The man in the centre read out a statement, then appeared to pull a knife, rush to the hostage from behind and cut his throat until the head was severed.

He held up the head and placed it on top of the body.

Mr Armstrong gasped loudly as blood poured from his neck.

During the statement before the killing, the speaker said Tawhid and Jihad was taking revenge for women Iraqi prisoners and called US President George Bush “a dog”.

Addressing Mr Bush, he said: “Now, you have people who love death just like you love life. Killing for the sake of God is their best wish, getting to your soldiers and allies are their happiest moments, and cutting the heads of the criminal infidels is implementing the orders of our lord.”

Mr Armstrong grew up in Hillsdale, Michigan, but left the area around 1990. His brother, Frank, still lives there.

Mr Armstrong’s work in construction took him around the world. He lived in Thailand with his wife before going to Iraq.

The other American hostage, Jack Hensley, 48, made his home in Marietta, Georgia, with his wife Patty and their 13-year-old daughter.

Kidnapped with the Americans was Briton Kenneth Bigley, 62.

All three worked for Gulf Services Co of the United Arab Emirates.

Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for most of the bloodiest suicide bomb attacks in Iraq since the fall of Saddam. It has already beheaded several hostages, including US telecoms engineer Nicholas Berg in May and South Korean driver Kim Sun-il in June.

The group released Filipino captive Angelo de la Cruz in July after Manila bowed to its demands to pull out troops.

The United States has offered $25 million (€20m) for information leading to the death or capture of Zarqawi, a Jordanian, and has launched a series of air strikes on his suspected hideouts in the rebel-held town of Falluja.