Video shows beheading of American

A video found on an Islamic militant website today broadcast footage of an American man telling US troops to stop the occupation of Iraq and then showed his head being cut off.

The American on the tape identified himself as Benjamin Danforth, from San Francisco, California.

“We need to leave this country alone. We need to stop this occupation,” he said, rocking back and forth, looking nervous and trembling. He sat on a chair in a dark room, his hands behind his back.

The video, titled “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Slaughters an American,” interspersed the footage with graphic clips of dismembered and disfigured adults and children in Iraq. A recording of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, played in the background.

He said he had been offered for exchange with prisoners in Iraq.

“We need to leave this country right now,” he said. ”Everyone’s going to be killed this way.”

The video then showed the American lying on his left side, a knife cutting at his neck.

No militants were seen on the footage, unlike in previous videos of hostage killings.

Al-Zarqawi is an al-Qaida linked militant whose group, Tawhid and Jihad, has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks across Iraq, including the beheadings of US businessman Nicholas Berg, South Korean translator Kim Sun-il and Bulgarian truck driver Georgi Lazov.