Two Iraqi intelligence officers ‘beheaded’ on website video

THE beheading of two Iraqi intelligence officers by their kidnappers appeared in a video on an Islamic website yesterday.

The 10-minute tape showed two Iraqi men, Fadhel Ibrahim and Firas Imeil, identifying themselves as Iraqi National Intelligence officers and saying they were captured in Baghdad’s Haifa Street on September 28.

In separate scenes, the tape showed four masked gunmen standing behind Ibrahim and then Imeil, with one militant describing the captives as “criminals” and mentioning the recent US led attacks against militants in the Iraqi city of Samarra.

Then, in almost identical killings, two militants held each of the captives down on the ground while another severed their heads with a knife before holding them up to the camera.

There was no way to immediately verify the authenticity of the tape, which was released in the name of the Brigades of Abu Bakr Al-Sidiq, which is affiliated to wanted Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group.

Al-Zarqawi’s group has kidnapped and beheaded numerous foreigners in attacks aimed at driving foreigners out of Iraq. Among its victims was British engineer Ken Bigley who was beheaded last week and whose body is still missing.

Yesterday it emerged crack US troops made two failed attempts to rescue Bigley and the two Americans he was held captive with.

The American soldiers, possibly joined by US intelligence agents, were deployed on two occasions to locations in Baghdad in a desperate bid to find and free the men. But each time, there was no sign of the hostages, CNN has reported.

The revelation came after Foreign Secretary Jack Straw earlier told the Commons that an intermediary had passed messages to the terrorists, urging them not to kill Mr Bigley.

A US official told CNN that US soldiers and “other Government personnel”, received intelligence tip-offs as to where the hostages were being held. Both times, the source said, the missions came up with “dry holes” although it appeared people had been at both locations.

“A lot of people had a lot of sleepless nights trying to find them,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying.