Website shows new US beheading

2004-06-18 19:52

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - The al-Qaeda group that kidnapped American Paul M Johnson jun said in an online statement on Friday that it had killed the hostage, and posted three still photographs of his beheaded body.

"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 of what Muslims have long tasted from Apache helicopter fire and missiles," the statement said.

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.

"We, God willing, will continue our road to fight the enemies of God," the statement said.

The US Embassy in Riyadh had no immediate comment. "We are working on verification," the spokesperson said.

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.

The face looked like Johnson's.

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-Qaeda.

"To the Americans and whoever is their ally in the infidel and criminal world and their alllies 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.

Soon after the statement appeared, the website was inaccessible, with a message saying it was closed for maintenance.

Arab satellite network Al-Arabiya said there was also a video of the beheading.

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.

Johnson was kidnapped last weekend by militants calling themselves al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who threatened to kill him by Friday if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaeda prisoners.

A Saudi senior security official, reached by The Associated Press, said: "We have so far nothing on this."

In Washington, a CIA spokesperson said the agency was not able to immediately confirm the report of Johnson's beheading.

- AFP