Author: AP
Publication: The Hind
Date: May 12, 2004
URL: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200405120104.htm?headline=Islamic~militant~website~'shows'~beheading~of~American
A video posted Tuesday on an Islamic
militant Website appeared to show a group affiliated with al-Qaida beheading
an American contractor in Iraq, saying the death was revenge for the prisoner-
abuse scandal.
The video showed five men wearing
headscarves and black ski masks, standing over a bound man in an orange
jumpsuit similar to a prisoner's uniform who identified himself as Nick
Berg, a US contractor whose body was found near a highway overpass in Baghdad
on Saturday.
"My name is Nick Burg, my father's
name is Michael, my mother's name is Susan," the man said on the video.
"I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in ...Philaphedelia."
After reading a statement, the men
were seen pulling the man to his side and putting a large knife to his
neck. A scream sounded as the men cut his head off, shouting "Allahu Akbar!"
"God is great." They then held the head out before the camera.
"For the mothers and wives of American
soldiers, we tell you that we offered the U.S. administration to exchange
this hostage with some of the detainees in Abu Ghraib and they refused,"
one of the men read from a statement.
"So we tell you that the dignity
of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except
by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us, but coffins
after coffins ...slaughtered in this way."
The video bore the title 'Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi' shown slaughtering an American. "It was unclear whether al-Zarqawi
- a lieutenant of Osama bin Laden was shown in the video, or was claiming
responsibility for ordering the execution.
