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.

The video, which was posted on Tuesday, showed a bound Mr Berg sitting in front of five men, their faces masked, as one read from an anti-American text. After pushing Mr Berg to the floor, the men severed his head with a knife and held it up for the camera. They said his killing was in response to the abuse of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison.

But unanswered questions remained about Mr Berg in the days before he vanished, as well as where and when he was abducted.

Mr Berg spoke to his parents on March 24 and told them he would return home on March 30, according to his family.

But he was detained by Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Mosul on March 24. His family say he was turned over to US officials and detained for 13 days.

His father, Michael, said his son was not allowed to make phone calls or contact a lawyer. However, coalition spokesman Dan Senor said that to his knowledge Mr Berg "was at no time under the jurisdiction or detention of coalition forces".