Militants 'execute' Bulgarian hostage

A MILITANT group holding two Bulgarian truck drivers hostage in Iraq said last night it had executed one of them and planned to kill the other in 24 hours.

Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group threatened last week to kill the men if the US did not release all Iraqi detainees by Saturday.

In a video broadcast on Pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera, the group said it had carried out its threat against one of the men and would kill the other in 24 hours. The video showed three men dressed in black with their faces covered by masks. One of the hostages sat in front of them.