US Marine: Beheading denied

2004-07-04 15:39

Baghdad - An Islamic extremist group denied in a statement posted on its website on Sunday that it had killed an American Marine taken hostage last month.

The Ansar al-Sunna Army issued the statement in response to reports by the Lebanese Foreign Ministry that the group killed Wassef Ali Hassoun.

The Lebanese statement followed a declaration in the name of Ansar al-Sunna on two other extremist websites that it had killed the Marine, who is of Lebanese origin.

"The media have published, quoting the Lebanese foreign ministry, that the Ansar al-Sunna Army has killed the American hostage, from Lebanese origin, who was kidnapped in Iraq," the statement said.

"In order to maintain our credibility in all issues we declare that this statement that was attributed to us has no basis of truth," the statement said. It added that any statement in its name "that any statement that is not issued through our site doesn't represent us."

The original claim of having kidnapped the Marine was issued in the name of "Islamic Response," the security wing of the "National Islamic Resistance - 1920 Revolution Brigades," rather than the Ansar al-Sunna Army.

- AP