'Italian hostage's death shown on videotape'

An Italian hostage being held in Iraq was killed and his death recorded on a videotape received by Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based network said tonight.

The video showed four Italian hostages sitting on the ground, holding up their passports and surrounded by armed men. Al-Jazeera said the death of one of the Italians is captured on the tape.

The tape was accompanied by a statement from a previously unknown group calling itself the Green Battalion, which threatened to “kill the three remaining Italian hostages one after the other, if their demands are not met.”

In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the government had no confirmation of the killing.

“Obviously, we hope this news turns out to be false,” he said on Italian television. “The kidnappers are, as you said, a group of bandits, not tied organically to any group.”

The four Italian security guards were abducted Monday while working for a US-based company.

Al-Jazeera said it did not broadcast footage showing the killing. An employee at the news desk in Doha, Qatar, did not know how the station got the tape.