'Time for forgiveness is gone'

2004-09-02 13:58

Cairo - A militant group in Iraq linked to al-Qaeda has issued a video purportedly showing the killing of three Turkish hostages, Al-Jazeera television reported on Thursday.

The station said it also received a statement claiming the killings from Tawhid and Jihad, a group believed led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian held responsible for a string of attacks on United States and Iraqi forces in Iraq and believed linked to al-Qaeda.

The station broadcast part of the video, but not the footage showing the killings. It did not say how the three were killed.

"The time of forgiveness has gone. You have nothing left but killing and beheading," said the brief printed Arabic statement, which Al-Jazeera showed on its screen.

Police in Iraq had reported finding the slain bodies of two Turkish citizens and a third unidentified man in northern Iraq late on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear when the three were killed, nor what they were doing in Iraq, police said.

Police found identification on two of the bodies that showed they were Turks, but nothing was discovered on the third body.

- AP