Website shows murder of 12 hostages by militants

A VIDEO purporting to show the grisly executions of 12 Nepalese workers kidnapped in Iraq was yesterday posted on a website linked to a militant group.

The methodical killings shown on the video would mark the largest number of foreign hostages killed at one time by insurgents in Iraq, who have seized more than 100 hostages in recent months in their drive to destabilise the country.

In a separate hostage crisis, the French government prepared for crisis talks to save the lives of journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who are being held by a different militant group that has demanded France rescind its ban on Muslim head scarves in schools.