2nd US hostage 'slaughtered'
2004-09-21 22:59
Cairo - An Islamic website posting on Tuesday claimed an al-Qaeda-related group "slaughtered" a second American hostage in Iraq, an announcement that came as the group's 24-hour deadline for meeting its demands ran out.
"The nation's zealous sons slaughtered the second American hostage... after the end of the deadline... We will provide you with film of the slaughter soon, God willing," said the statement, posted under the pseudonym Abu Maysara al-Iraqi.
The authenticity of the claim could not be verified.
However, al-Iraqi has posted past statements on behalf of Tawhid and Jihad, a militant group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
A similar announcement posted by al-Iraqi preceded Monday's graphic video of the beheading of American engineer Eugene Armstrong, 52.
Tawhid and Jihad - which abducted Armstrong, American Jack Hensley, 48, and Briton Kenneth Bigley, 62, on Thursday - has demanded all Muslim women in United States custody in Iraq be freed.
24-hour deadline
Tuesday's brief statement did not identify the latest victim by name.
Militants had said in the video of Armstrong's killing that they would kill one of the other two hostages within 24 hours unless their demand was met. Tuesday night's statement said the American had been killed.
Hensley, who is married and has a 13-year-old daughter, Sara, is from the state of Georgia.
His wife, Patty, appealed on television on Tuesday in the United States, asking that her husband be spared.
"My daughter would like her father back and I'm willing to do whatever it will take to get him here," Patty Hensley said on the ABC network's Good Morning America programme.
A Western diplomat in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities could not confirm the slaying because they had no corpse.
Armstrong's body had been found on Monday in western Baghdad hours before the news of his beheading became public.
Even if a body is found it takes time to confirm identification. Next of kin have to be notified before any statements are issued.
Al Zarqawi behind mask
The US central intelligence agency determined with a "high degree of confidence" that al-Zarqawi was the masked militant who read out the lengthy statement before drawing a knife and beheading Armstrong.
US President George W Bush condemned Armstrong's killing during a meeting in New York with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
"We all stand in solidarity with the (remaining) American who is now being held captive," Bush said in remarks less than two hours before the new claim surfaced.
Bush, who was in New York to deliver a speech before the United Nations general assembly, told a subdued UN session that terrorists believe that "suicide and murder are justified... And they act on their beliefs".
The US military says the only two women in its custody in Iraq are two security prisoners: Dr Rihab Rashid Taha, a scientist who became known as "Dr Germ" for helping Iraq make weapons out of anthrax, and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a biotech researcher known as "Mrs Anthrax".
In London, the Bigley's family appealed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to meet the captors' demands of releasing all women prisoners.
- AP