Video shows Iraqi execution of 12 hostages
A video purporting to show the grisly, executions of 12 Nepalese workers kidnapped in Iraq was discovered today on a web site linked to a militant group.
The Nepalese Foreign Ministry said it could not immediately confirm the report.
If true, the methodical killings shown on the video would mark the largest number of foreign hostages killed at one time by insurgents in Iraq who have seized more than 100 hostages in recent months in their drive to destabilise the country and force coalition troops and foreign workers to withdraw.
In a separate hostage crisis, the French government prepared for crisis talks to save the lives of journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who are being held by a different militant group that has demanded France rescind its ban on head scarves in French schools.
The video discovered today showed a masked man in desert camouflage apparently slitting the throat of a blindfolded man lying on the ground. The blindfolded man moaned and a shrill wheeze was heard. The masked man then displayed the head to the camera before resting it on the decapitated body.
Other footage showed a man firing single shots from an assault rifle into the back of the heads of 11 others. Blood seeped from their bodies onto the sand.
A statement on the Web site signed Ansar al-Sunna Army vowed to keep fighting the Americans in Iraq.
“America today has used all its force, as well as the help of others, to fight Islam under the so-called war on terror, which is nothing but a vicious crusade against Muslims,” the statement said.
At the end of the four-minute video, a man reads another statement off-camera, vowing to fight the Iraqi government.
“We will work on exterminating them until the last fighter,” he said.
The group also threatened anyone else working with US forces here, saying executions would befall “every agent, traitor and spy.”
Iyad Mansoor, director-general of the Morning Star Company, a Jordan-based services firm that employed the Nepalese workers, said he had no independent information on their fate.
“I’m shocked to hear such news,” he said.
On Sunday, a tape on the same Web site showed the 12 Nepalese.
“The Americans assured us that the situation in Iraq is stable and not dangerous,” said one of the men, who was draped in an American flag. The other 11 men surrounded him and were holding their passports. “America lied to us. The situation here is not under American control.”
The 12 Nepalese were travelling in two cars on August 19 when they disappeared after crossing the border from Jordan. The next day, a Web statement from the little known Ansar al-Sunna Army claimed to be holding them and demanded Nepal stop sending workers to Iraq.
Nepal has sent no troops to Iraq despite requests from the United States. Armed Nepalese personnel – many former British army Gurkhas – work for security firms guarding foreign contractors in Iraq.
Iraq has been ravaged by a 16 month insurgency, marked by kidnappings, car bombings, assassinations and other attacks.
US and Iraqi officials today discussed ways to step up aid to Najaf and a war-battered Sadr City slum in Baghdad after rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his followers to end their uprising there.
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told tribal leaders from Sadr City – scene of fierce clashes between US forces and al-Sadr’s militia – that the government had allocated €96m for projects there to improve public services including water, electricity and sewage.
“The resumption and the stability of life in your city and in the whole of Iraq is a very important issue,” Allawi said.
Meanwhile, James Jeffrey, the second-ranking US diplomat in Baghdad, met Governor Adnan al-Zurufi in the holy city of Najaf to assess the “immediate needs of the city” and examine ways to rebuild it. Parts of Najaf, particularly around the Old City, were heavily damaged during three weeks of fighting.
