- DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's
leader in Iraq beheaded an American civilian and vowed more killings in
revenge for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, an Islamist Web site said Tuesday.
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- A poor quality videotape on the site showed a man dressed
in orange overalls sitting bound on a white plastic chair in a bare room,
then on the floor with five masked men behind him.
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- "My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael...
I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah," said the bound man,
adding he was from Philadelphia.
-
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- After one of the masked men read out a statement, they
pushed Berg to the floor and shouted "God is greatest" above
his screams as one of them sawed his head off with a large knife then held
it aloft for the camera.
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- The Web site said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a top ally of
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was the man who cut off Berg's head. The
statement read out before the killing was signed off with Zarqawi's name
and dated May 11.
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- Jordanian-born Zarqawi, 37, has raised his profile and
status as al Qaeda's most active operational leader with a series of suicide
bombs and attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.
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- A State Department official said Tuesday the body of
a U.S. citizen identified as Berg had been found in Baghdad. The official
said Berg had no ties to the U.S. military or the Defense Department, but
offered no further details.
-
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- "He was a private American citizen not associated
with a military contract," said the State Department official, speaking
on condition of anonymity.
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- It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity
of the tape carried on the Muntada al-Ansar Islamist Web site.
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- The ritual killing resembled the murder of U.S. reporter
Daniel Pearl, beheaded by Islamist militants in Pakistan.
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- Berg's orange overalls were reminiscent of those worn
by al Qaeda detainees held by U.S. troops at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
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- Photographs shown around the world of naked Iraqi prisoners
stacked in a pyramid or positioned to simulate sex acts at Abu Ghraib prison
near Baghdad have provoked international anger and become a serious setback
to U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq.
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- President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
have both apologized and pledged to punish those responsible but both governments
have come under pressure for senior ministers to be held responsible for
the abuse.
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- © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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