- RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- The
al-Qaida group that kidnapped American Paul Johnson Jr. said in an online
statement Friday that it had killed the hostage and posted three still
photographs of his beheaded body.
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- "In answer to what we promised ... to kill the hostage
Paul Marshall after the period is over ... the infidel got his fair treatment....
Let him taste something from what Muslims tasted who were long reached
by Apache helicopter fire and missiles," the statement said.
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- Johnson, 49, worked on targeting and night-vision systems
for Apache helicopters, and the group had cited his job as one of the reasons
he was kidnapped.
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- "We, God willing, will continue our road to fight
the enemies of God," the statement said.
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- The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh had no immediate comment.
Saudi security officials later said Johnson's body was found in a northeastern
district of the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
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- One of the three photographs posted on the Internet site
showed a man's head, face toward the camera, being held by a hand. The
other two showed a beheaded body lying prone on a bed, with the severed
head placed in the small of his back.
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- The face looked like Johnson's.
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- The beheaded body was clad in a bright orange suit, similar
to those issued to suspected Islamic militants imprisoned by the United
States at Guantanamo Bay - and similar to the suit another American captive,
Nicholas Berg, was wearing when he was beheaded in Iraq last month by another
group of Islamic militants inspired by al-Qaida.
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- "To the Americans and whoever is their ally in the
infidel and criminal world and their allies in the war against Islam, this
action is punishment to them and a lesson for them to know that whoever
steps foot in our country, this decisive action will be his fate,"
the statement said.
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- Soon after the statement appeared, the website was inaccessible,
with a message saying it was closed for maintenance.
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- Arab satellite network Al-Arabiya said there was also
a video of the beheading.
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- An Internet site often used by Islamic militant groups
linked to al-Qaida displayed a link to Johnson's beheading, but initial
efforts to access the video were unsuccessful.
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- Johnson was kidnapped last weekend by militants calling
themselves al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula who threatened to kill him
by Friday if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners.
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- In Washington, a CIA spokesperson said the agency was
not able to immediately confirm the report of Johnson's beheading.
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- Johnson was kidnapped last weekend by militants who threatened
to kill him by Friday if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners.
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reserved. http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=f672ad39-27bc-457a-9bfa-c31520768e58
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