Militants deny killing captured US soldier
Fears for Lebanese-born marine had risen after a statement appeared on two Islamist websites on Saturday saying the Army of Ansar al-Sunna had decapitated him. The denial by the Ansar al-Sunna Army group left open the possibility that the 24-year-old American of Lebanese origin was killed by another group or that he was still alive.
A Lebanese Foreign Ministry official in Beirut said Cpl Hassoun was believed to be dead and that Lebanese officials in Iraq were trying to track down his body. Later, however, Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid said news of the death "was not official." In Lebanon, Cpl Hassoun's brother, Sami, said the family had no confirmation the marine was killed.
"We have no information at all. All that we are doing now is looking at the Internet and watching television stations. We don't know anything more," the brother said.
Cpl Hassoun's relatives in Utah have been in seclusion since the report of his death was issued on Saturday.
The report of Cpl Hassoun's slaying came in a message posted on several Islamic radical website yesterday in the name of the Ansar al-Sunna Army in Qaim, a city on the Iraqi border with Syria. The message promised a video would be released soon showing the killing but none has emerged.
The US military in Baghdad said it had no confirmation of Hassoun's death and repeated yesterday that his status remains "captured."
Meanwhile, Iraqi troops foiled an attempted car bombing yesterday outside their headquarters in a city northeast of Baghdad after security forces opened fire on a man who threatened to blow up his vehicle.
Iraqi officials in the city of Baqouba said a man driving a car rigged with explosives tried to attack the National Guard building there.
Another car bombing targeted a passing US convoy west of Baghdad causing no injuries.
In Baghdad, an explosion shook the home of an Education Ministry employee, in another attack targeting officials working with the interim government. Even low-level workers have been subjected to attack by insurgents who see the employees as collaborators with US forces. The violence yesterday was part of ongoing attacks that have plagued Iraq for more than 14 months since the fall of Saddam Hussein. An Iraqi police official said yesterday that US and Iraqi forces have detained six members of a militant group suspected of carrying out a string of assassinations in the country's northern region.
