Video: Kidnapped Turkish Driver Beheaded
Video: Kidnapped Turkish Driver Beheaded (ABC News – AP)
A man identified as a Turkish truck driver kidnapped in Iraq was beheaded in a video shown on an Islamic Web site Thursday. The Arabic-language Web site said the trucker’s name was Ramadan Elbu, and he showed an identity document and spoke a few words in Turkish before he was killed. The video appeared on the Web site of the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, an Iraqi militant group. A statement read out said the kidnappers belonged to the Tawhid and Jihad group’s “Qaqa Brigade,” a reference to a commander who served Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
The video began with the white-haired and bearded captive saying: “I am Ramadan.” “I drove a truck of supplies to the Americans. … When I was coming back (to Turkey), the group captured me. I call on all Turkish drivers not to come to Iraq,” he said. He sat blindfolded with four masked gunmen behind him. One kidnapper said his group had sworn to oppose “the crusaders and those who help them.” “Death at the hands of the holy warriors will be the fate of those people, as you will see,” said the kidnapper, who spoke Arabic but not with an Iraqi accent.
Two kidnappers then pushed the captive to the ground, and a third slit his throat with a knife and cut off his head.
Yet another Muslim murdered in the name of Islam. One wonders if it is a mere coincidence or a sick irony that they beheaded a man named “Ramadan” on the first day of Ramadan.
Hat tip: Jeff Quinton.
I suspect Rusty Shackleford will have photos and a link to the video when they’re available.
Rusty usually gets in around 7:45-8 CT from what I’ve seen when something like this breaks.