US hostage executed - report

2004-06-29 07:27

Doha - Arab satellite news channel al-Jazeera said early on Tuesday that it had received video footage of the execution of US soldier Keith Maupin, who has been held hostage in Iraq for more than two months.

The Qatar-based channel added that it had received a statement from a group in Iraq confirming that Maupin had been executed. The US military was analysing the tape but was not able to confirm the claim, a spokesperson in Washington said.

"We're in the process of reviewing the tape. Nothing further has been decided at this point," said army Sergeant Major Lewis Matson.

Al-Jazeera said the video it had received showed the hostage speaking then footage of a man kneeling with his back to the camera in front of a ditch. The man is then seen being shot dead, but his face is not shown, Al-Jazeera said, adding that it was not broadcasting the grim footage.

The hostage-takers' statement said that Maupin had been executed "because the United States hasn't changed its policy on Iraq and to avenge our martyrs in Iraq, Algeria and Saudi Arabia", according to al-Jazeera.

Earlier, US television channel ABC reported that the parents of 20-year-old Keith "Matt" Maupin were alerted on Monday to the existence of videotape apparently showing his execution. The tape "appears to show a blindfolded Maupin in a dark room being shot in the head", ABC said.

The military has not confirmed the killing, but officials said they believe it's him, the television network reported.

Other networks said the tape was too grainy to confirm the man's identity.

Maupin, 20, disappeared after his convoy was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire around Baghdad on April 9. Al-Jazeera showed footage in April of the young soldier in his military uniform sitting against a white wall and circled by a half-dozen masked and armed men.

Maupin was the first US soldier to be taken hostage since the invasion of Iraq began. Two other hostages, a US marine and a Pakistani, have been threatened with decapitation by their kidnappers unless detained Iraqis are released. Three Turks are also being held.

Last week, insurgents beheaded a South Korean translator after Seoul refused their demands to withdraw a planned deployment of 3 000 troops to northern Iraq.

Last month, American businessman Nicholas Berg was also decapitated by his captors in Iraq.

- AFP