Video shows 'bodies of hostages'

A video posted online appears to show the bodies of some of the seven foreign hostages abducted from northern Nigeria and later killed by Islamic extremists.

The YouTube video, viewed by the Associated Press today, matched still images released earlier by the Islamic extremist group Ansaru when it claimed the killings.

In the video, a gunman stands in sand, holding a rifle near what appears to be bodies.

A later shot in the video shows three male corpses, one of whom appears to have been killed by a gunshot wound to the head from a high-powered weapon.

European diplomats confirmed yesterday that hostages from Greece, Italy, Lebanon and Britain had been killed after their abduction on February 16.

Nigerian authorities have been silent about the killings.