Army denies family's claims that beheaded man was in US custody

AN American civilian who was beheaded in a grisly video posted on an al-Qaida-linked website was never in US custody despite claims from his family, a coalition spokesman said yesterday.

The body of Nicholas Berg, 26, was found on Saturday near a highway overpass in Baghdad, the same day he was decapitated, a US official said.

Mr Berg, who disappeared on April 9, was shown in the video on a website bearing the title "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American", referring to an associate of Osama bin Laden who is believed to be behind a wave of suicide bombings in Iraq.