Video: Turk and Iraqi Hostages Beheaded

Islamist Web site shows beheading of two hostages in Iraq;another Turkish hostage threatened (AP)

An Islamic Web site on Monday showed the beheading of two hostages one a Turkish contractor and the other an Iraqi Kurdish translator wearing a badge of the Titan security company. A statement said the two were killed by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, which claimed responsibility for slaughtering 12 Nepalese workers and three Iraqi Kurds on Aug. 31. Also Monday, the Arabic language television station Al-Arabiya broadcast a video showing three hooded gunmen threatening to behead another Turkish hostage within three days unless the Americans release all Iraqi prisoners and all Turks leave Iraq.

A written statement appearing on the Internet video accused the Iraqi Kurdish translator, Luqman Hussein, of participating in raids with U.S. troops in the Ramadi area. A second statement said the Turkish contractor, Maher Kemal, was working for the Americans at an air base north of the capital. Hussein said he worked with U.S. forces at an agricultural site in Ramadi and was captured en route to Baghdad, about 70 miles east of Ramadi. The statement said Kemal was abducted Friday on the highway between Mosul and Baghdad.

The videotape warned foreigners against coming to Iraq ”for making cheap earthly profits by being allies with the Crusaders in their war on Islam.” The tape broadcast on Al-Arabiya showed the gunmen behind a hostage said to be a Turkish truck driver. One of the gunmen identified the kidnappers as members of Tawhid and Jihad, Iraq’s most feared terror group that has been responsible for beheading several foreign hostages in Iraq.
However, the tape did not feature the group’s banner, which has always appeared in Tawhid and Jihad video statements. ”We of the group of Tawhid and Jihad announce … that we will cut off the head of this hostage if our demands are not met,” the speaker said as the hostage’s eyes darted from one side to another. ”We have long warned them not to enter the land of Islam and land of Jihad, the land of Iraq.” The video showed the hostage’s passport but the name could not be determined.

Rusty Shackleford has much more, including gruesome photos and a link to the video for those so inclined.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. salim sadiq says:

    nothing worse than watching beheading a man but I would like to see how enimols they are who did that