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Purported al-Qaida video shows beheading
Videos posted on the Internet on Tuesday showed militants purported to belong to al-Qaida's ally in Iraq beheading a man said to be an Iraqi soldier and another group killing a reported informer.
In the purported video from Al-Qaida in Iraq, a text shown identified the Iraqi security force member as Jassim Mohammed Hussein Mahdi, who appeared to be in his early 20s. The video also showed the black banner of the group, which is headed by wanted Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The video, posted on a militant Web site that carries most al-Qaida in Iraq statements, could not be immediately authenticated. It showed an unidentified interrogator talking to Mahdi, who said he had received orders from his superiors "to kill the mujahedeen anywhere and without hesitation."
Mahdi was shown squatting on the ground in an empty room, wearing full military gear with his hands tied behind his back. He said he was a member of the Iraqi National Guard's 4th Brigade, but did not say when or where he had been captured.
Mahdi said he "regretted" working with the U.S.-allied Iraqi government and urged "all members of the police, National Guard and army to abandon this work, which is religiously prohibited."
"God's verdict against this renegade, who was tempted by dollars, has been carried out," said a statement shown on the video. "Let everyone who sold his religion and joined this unit know that he will have the same fate."
The video later showed Mahdi lying blindfolded on the ground before two masked men appeared. One held Mahdi's legs while the other severed his head with a knife with shouts of "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!" heard from the background.
Al-Qaida in Iraq has claimed responsibility for beheading Western hostages and many members of the Iraqi security forces.
A second video posted on the same Web site by another group, Ansar al-Sunnah Army, showed a man who confessed to a militant interrogating him that he worked as an informer to the police in the northern city of Mosul. The militant was speaking in the distinct Mosul accent of Iraqi Arabic.
The man, who identified himself as Hussein Taha Qassim and said he was born in 1968, told the interrogator that he informed the police about the hideouts of four "mujahedeen." He said the police killed three of them and the fourth escaped.
In the next image, Qassim was shown lying face down on the ground on the median of a two-way avenue, and a masked gunman shot him with a volley of bullets from an automatic weapon. The video's authenticity could not be verified. Ansar al-Sunnah has claimed kidnapping and killing of several foreigners. |
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